History, as it ever does, repeats itself

...because people have got to know...

The president is not a liar


Today is International Archives Day. Don't worry about how to celebrate the holiday correctly, the various Congressional, Senate and Independent committees already has all the information you might need. So you can just go about your business; They're already on the case







Take it from your doctor and check out Archive.org; just about everything you may want will find it's way there.


June 9, 1934 -
83 years ago today, an American legend made his first appearance on the silver screen. The Silly Symphony short The Wise Little Hen premiered; it star, resplendent in his trademark sailor jacket and cap. Since then, he has appeared in over 450 films in more than 200 languages, held lead roles in dozens of television serials and hundreds of specials, and has been featured in books and magazines in every language.



He is, of course, the world's favorite lazy, hot-headed, bare-assed mallard: Donald Fauntleroy Duck. He has done all of this without wearing pants.


June 9, 1947 -
Another of Orson Welles' (The patron saint of Independent film makers) mangled studio films The Lady from Shanghai was released on this date.



Orson Welles' original rough cut of this picture ran 155 minutes (the released version ran 92 minutes). Numerous cuts made by Columbia Pictures executives included a shortening of the famous "funhouse" finale.


June 9, 1978  -
The Rolling Stones' 14th British and 16th American studio album, Some Girls, was released on this date.



The album cover was a parody of a newspaper ad for wigs, but the women wearing the wigs were celebrities like Raquel Welch, Lucille Ball, and Farrah Fawcett. They had to remove the famous women when faced with a lawsuit.


From the literary corner


Today in History:
June 9, 68 -
Rather than suffer a Senate-imposed death by flogging, Nero implored his secretary Epaphroditus to slit his throat. The freedman complies, giving the condemned emperor a quick death on this date, just as centurions arrive at the villa to haul him away.



You certainly can't get help like that anymore even on Mad Men.

Administrative Professionals Day, former known as Secretaries Day, always falls on the last week of April. I believe it should occur on June 9th


June 9, 1870 -
Charles Dickens dropped dead at his chair at the dinner table in his home in London on this date. He died from a stroke, or apoplexy as it was called then. This must have put a dent in the dinner conversation at the time.



He was 58 years old. In the months before he died, he must have already suffered a stroke? He spoke in his letters of weakness and deadness on the left side and of not being able to pick up things with his left hand.



Being the ever prolific writer, Mr. Dickens still manages to write three more short stories, a humorous monograph and a recipe for rum punch while on the way to his burial.


June 9, 1891 -
My sole inspiration is a telephone call from a director.







One of the most sophisticated American, Cole Porter, composer and lyricist, was born in Peru, Indiana, on this date.


June 9, 1902 -
Joe Horn and Frank Hardart open the Horn and Hardart Automat Restaurant, the first restaurant with vending machine service, at 818 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.



If you are of a certain age, you used to call them Horny and Hardon.


June 9,  1909 -
Starting out from a rainy Manhattan, New York on this date, Alice Huyler Ramsey, a 22-year-old New Jersey mother, drove with three of her girlfriends (who didn't know how to drive a car) to San Francisco, California. The trip took 59 days and when she and her companions arrived in California on August 7th, Ramsey (and her companions) became the first woman to drive across the United States.



She made the 3,800-mile journey in a Maxwell automobile. The Maxwell company was the precursor to the Chrysler Group.


June 9, 1930 -
Jake Lingle, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, was shot dead gangland-style at the Illinois Central train station underpass, during rush hour. Dozens of people witness the murder, and the Leo Vincent Brothers were caught four months later after an intensive manhunt.



Lingle was allegedly killed over a $100,000 gambling debt owed to Al Capone.

Kids, how many times do we have to go over this - don't borrow money unless you can pay the vig?


June 9, 1946 -
Bhumibol Adulyadej (known as Rama IX ) came to the throne in Thailand, upon the death of his brother, King Ananda Mahidol, on this date in 1946. (Just don't ask who shot his brother - it's a crime. As a matter of fact, don't say anything negative about the King - it's a crime.)



King Rama IX of Thailand passed away last October, leaving Queen Elizabeth II of England as the longest living reigning monarch in history.


June 9, 1954 -
Have you left no sense of decency?



During Senate-Army hearings, Sen Joseph McCarthy charged that one of Joseph Welch's attorneys had ties to a Communist organization. As an amazed television audience looked on, Welch responded with the immortal lines that ultimately ended McCarthy's career.


June 9, 1980 -
In the midst of a cocaine binge, comedian Richard Pryor attempts suicide by dousing himself with rum and setting it ablaze. The self-immolation attempt goes haywire when the flaming man leapt from his apartment window and ran down the street, screaming in agony.



Pryor barely survives the incident, and only after six weeks of intensive care and three skin graft surgeries.


June 9, 1992 -
Talk about having a lousy day...

Entertainer Ben Vereen was critically injured when he was struck by a van while walking along the Pacific Coast Highway near Malibu, California. The driver, producer/composer David Foster, was not charged.



Some hours earlier, Vereen had run into a tree while driving his own car. He blames that mishap for the later accident. He said, "I had hit my head on the steering wheel but felt fine. Later that evening as I was walking in Malibu, I had [a] stroke as a result of that accident." Vereen says he then stumbled into the roadway and was hit by the van.



And so it goes.


1321

Is this the beginning of the end?

Or just the end of the beginning?

I'm not really sure this will be the bombshell event promised.  (But who knows, if Trump will trip and hang himself, tweeting.)


June 8, 1946 -
The very funny Looney Tunes cartoon, Kitty Kornered, was released on this date.



It have a number of firsts going for it:
1.) It's the first appearance of Sylvester the Cat (as this point unnamed) in a Warner Bros. cartoon.
2.) It's the first pairing of Porky and Sylvester.

June 8, 1950 -
The Asphalt Jungle, the superb film noir directed by John Huston, was released on this date.



During the production, Walter Huston came to Hollywood for his son John Huston's forty-fourth birthday party. Two days later, with John at his side, the legendary actor of stage and screen, died of heart failure at the age of sixty-six.


June 8, 1968 -
The Simon and Garfunkel song Mrs Robinson reached No. 1 on the charts on this date



This would have had a good chance to win an Oscar for Best Song From A Movie, but it was never nominated because Simon and Garfunkel never filled out the forms to get it considered, leaving Talk To The Animals from Doctor Dolittle as the winner. Paul Simon explained, "It was the '60s, we just weren't paying attention."


June 8, 1968 -
The Rolling Stones released Jumpin' Jack Flash on this date.



This was intended for Beggar's Banquet, but they left it off the album and released it as a single because The Stones were very pleased with the results.


June 8, 1984 -
Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!

Ivan Reitman's comedy - horror film, Ghostbusters, premiered on this date.



The original premise had three main characters: John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy. They fought ghosts in S.W.A.T. like suits using wands instead of guns. The ghost named Slimer was known as 'Onionhead', and at the end of the movie, Ghostbusters businesses were all over the United States. John Candy also was slated to play Louis. However, with Belushi's death and actors backing out, the script was rewritten and new actors cast.


Our moment of culture


Today in History:
June 8, 632 -
According to tradition, the prophet Mohammed died on this date. He was the founder of Islam, and his death was the first in a long chain of events that ultimately resulted in the Treaty of Tordesillas. Whether he is at this very moment reclining on a soft couch somewhere in Paradise, being serviced by a high-bosomed virgin with dark eyes or consuming a handful of raisins is debatable.

And if you think I'm going to post a picture of the Prophet, you've got another thing coming.


June 8, 1810 -
Robert Schumann, the great composer during the Romantic period, was born on this date. Schumann was able to create a large amount of work while battling the twin demons of bi-polar disease and dementia brought on by mercury poisoning related to the treatment of syphilis, contracted in his teens.



For the last two years of his life, after an attempted suicide, Robert Schumann was confined to a mental institution at his own request.

You may now impress your friends with this info.


June 8 1869 -
Ives W. McGaffey of Chicago patented his sweeping machine (patent # 91,145,) the first suction vacuum cleaner, on this date.

This suggests that Chicago was famous for sucking long before the emergence of the Cubs.


June 8, 1906 -
Pres. Theodore Roosevelt signed the American Antiquities Act, first proposed in 1882. It was used to set aside American resources by executive order.



Roosevelt had urged the passage of the Antiquities Act to allow the president to designate areas of scientific, historic or archeological significance as national monuments without the approval of Congress.


June 8, 1928 -
On May 31, 1928, Charles Kingsford Smith, Charles Ulm, Harry Lyon and James Warner left Oakland California in a Fokker VIIb-3m, called the Southern Cross, to attempt the first flight across the Pacific.



Flying via Hawaii and Fiji, they reach Brisbane, Australia 7,389 miles away, nine days later, on this date.


June 8, 1933 -
Certain key structural areas of the late, great Joan Alexandra Molinsky, comic and actress, were born on this date.



Unfortunately, some of her 'newer' parts have outlived her.


Nancy Sinatra was born on this date (it would be impolite to say how old she is but she is less than a year older than my mom.)



Her boots must be made for endurance walking


June 8, 1982 -
President Ronald Reagan became the first US chief executive to address the two houses of British Parliament on this day.



His assistants became slightly concerned about the President's faculties when Reagan mentioned to them, that he believed that scene went well but he could be more convincing in the next take. He also mentioned to them that he'd be having lunch with Dorothy Lamour at the commissary.



And so it goes.



1322

Only trouble is, gee whiz

June 7, 1958 -
The Everly Brothers record All I Have to Do Is Dream topped the charts on this date.



The song has also featured on several notable lists of the best songs or singles of all time, including Q's 1001 best songs ever in 2003. It was named one of the "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll" by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 2004.


June 7, 1969 -
Tommy James and the Shondells released Crystal Blue Persuasion on this date.



While many people believed the song was about a type of very high grade LSD circulating on the West Coast at the time, Tommy James has mentioned that the song was a reference to the Book of Revelations from the Bible.


Talk about cosmic convergence -

it's Dean Martin's,



Tom Jones'



and Prince's birthday today.



Think of the number of children conceived listening to their music.


June 7, 1991 –
The Castle Rock Film which revived the career of Jack Palance, City Slickers, directed by Ron Underwood and also starring Billy Crystal, Danial Stern and Bruno Kirby premiered on this date.



Jack Palance did not see the finished movie until after he won the Oscar for it.


For no particular reason


Today in History (it's not a rainbow and lollipop's day):
June 7, 1494 -
Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Tordesillas (which divides the New World between the two countries. Hence, the Brazilians speak Portuguese rather than Spanish). In the volatile, war-torn world in which we live, many historical documents have become required reading. Not this one. You will never be standing at a cocktail party where someone says, "It's all because of that damn Treaty of Tordesillas."

No one will ever blame the failures of the Middle East Peace Process or the brinkmanship in South Asia on the harsh conditions of the Treaty of Tordesillas. You'll never see your favorite pundit toss off the "Treaty of Tordesillas" in an ironic and off-handed way. You won't hear Noam Chomsky cite it as a cause or effect of American imperialism. It will never attract the directorial eye of Michael Moore or Oliver Stone.



You already know more about that treaty than most people alive today. You may now forget it ever existed. It has no relevance to your life.


June 7, 1502 -
Ugo Buoncompagni was born on this date. He became Pope Gregory XIII in 1572 and remained the Pope until 1585. He is best known for reforming the Julian calendar, which is why it's now Gregorian instead of Julian.

Had he reformed the calendar before becoming Pope, it would be the Ugian Calendar. That would have been a calendar worth having.

(For some reason that I can't quite figure out - I think I've mentioned Pope Gregory XIII on these pages more than any human being.)


June 7, 1692 -
At 11:43 am, a catastrophic earthquake struck Port Royal, Jamaica, then known as "the richest and wickedest city in the world." Buildings are shaken apart and ships in harbor hurled onto busy streets.



In just three minutes, the temblor takes out 70% of the population, killing 1,600 and seriously injuring 3,000 others.


It was a beautiful weekend back in 1786, it's nice to know that the first day ice cream was sold in the US, on this date.



The Smithsonian Museum purports to have an inappropriate woodcutting of a very young Bernie Sanders making a rude gesture to either Martha Washington or Dolley Madison concerning how Alexander Hamilton cut ahead of him on line and how he'd fix those damn banks some day in the future.


June 7, 1892 -
Homer Plessy, a shoemaker of mixed race from Louisiana, was arrested for refusing to move from a designated "white" seat on a train, on this date.



His arrest and subsequent trial (Plessy v. Ferguson) led to the landmark "separate but equal" decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1896, which permitted segregation.


June 7, 1893 -
Co-incidentally or not, when traveling by train across South Africa, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was asked to leave the first-class compartment - for which he had a ticket - because another passenger complained of having to ride with a colored person.



He refused to move and authorities were called to force him and his luggage to disembark in Maritzburg. This was Gandhi's first act of disobedience.


June 7, 1937 -
While filming Saratoga, Jean Harlow was hospitalized with uremic poisoning and kidney failure, a result of the scarlet fever she had suffered during childhood.



In the days before dialysis and kidney transplants, nothing could be done and Harlow died on this date. She was 26.

(Most of you probably have not idea who the hell Jean Harlow was?)


June 7, 1954 -
Despondent over court-ordered estrogen treatments to cure his homosexuality, Alan Turing committed suicide by consuming an apple laced with cyanide. (His inspiration - Snow White, his favorite movie.)



Turing is considered the founder of modern computing, a pioneer in the field of Artificial Intelligence, and a crucial member of the team that cracked Germany's Enigma cipher in World War II.



So, apparently an apple a day does keep the doctor away - permanently.


June 7, 1965 -
I've always loved words. I ate up all the books I could get my hands on, and when I couldn't get books, I read candy wrappers and labels on cereal and toothpaste boxes.



The anything but dumb blonde, Judy Holliday (born Judith Tuvim, who reportedly had an IQ of over 170) died from the breast cancer that had plagued her for over five years, on this date. She was 43.


June 7, 1967 -
Money cannot buy health, but I’d settle for a diamond-studded wheelchair.

Dorothy Rothschild Parker, writer, poet, critic and screen writer, outlived many of her drinking buddies from the Algonquin Round Table, died of a heart attack at the age of 73 on this date.



Her 'troubles' did not end with her death as her executrix, Lillian Hellman, bitterly but unsuccessfully contested the final bequest of her estate to the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. foundation and her ashes remained unclaimed in various places, including her attorney Paul O'Dwyer's filing cabinet, for approximately 17 years.


June 7, 1982 -
In an effort to defray its $500,000 annual upkeep costs, Priscilla Presley opened Graceland to the public only five years after Elvis died in an upstairs bathroom. The bathroom is kept off-limits to tourists.

Think of how much they could take in at the gate if you could sit on the King's final throne?




And so it goes.



1323

Don't leave me hanging on the line to yo-yo!

Today is National Yo-Yo Day, falling on what is believed to have been Donald Duncan Sr.'s birthday (even the Duncan Company isn't quite sure if June 6 is the right date).



I'm sure you have one (I believe that I have at least three floating around the house.) Go into the desk drawer, dig around and pull your old yo-yo out - I'll give you a moment.



Please celebrate responsibly - don't drink and go Around the World .


June 6, 1933 -
The first drive-in movie theater is opened on a ten acre site off Wilson Boulevard in Camden, New Jersey by garage owner Richard Hollingshead on this date. (The first film shown was Wives Beware.)



The theater features a 40 foot by 30 foot screen and a four hundred car capacity arranged in semi-circular rows. The original slogan of the Park-In Theaters was “The whole family is welcome, regardless of how noisy the children are.”


June 6, 1972 -
David Bowie released The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars on this date.



Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Marc Bolan, Gene Vincent and Jimi Hendrix ("He played it left hand, but made it too far" - Hendrix was left-handed), were all likely influences on the character Ziggy Stardust, but the only musician Bowie admits was a direct influence was Vince Taylor, an English singer who took the "rock star" persona to the extreme, calling himself Mateus and declaring himself the son of God. Taylor was popular in France in the early '60s, and Bowie met him in 1966, after his popularity had faded.


June 6, 1997 –
Farrah Fawcett made a bizarre appearance on the Late Show With David Letterman.



She went on long tirades and story-telling sprees that made little to no sense and was distracted by blinking lights in the studio.


Oohhh, I didn't mean to turn you on


Today in History:
June 6, 1755 -
A boy was born in Coventry, Connecticut on this date. He grew up, went to Yale, and became a teacher. He never distinguished himself in any way. He never wrote or said anything of note, never committed any famous or infamous deeds, never married or had children. He seemed destined to be swallowed whole by the omnivorous mouth of obscurity. He was therefore recruited by the United States Military as an intelligence agent, dispatched behind enemy lines in British-occupied Manhattan, and captured.

He was hanged by the British on September 22, 1776.



Moments before his execution, he expressed regret that he couldn't be hanged more than once. This remark catapulted him to posthumous fame (but only after his death), and Nathan Hale is revered to this day.


June 6, 1844 -
 ... You can get yourself clean. You can have a good meal. You can do whatever you feel ...



That 'fun' place to stay, The Young Men's Christian Association was founded in London, England by George Williams and a group of Evangelical Christians on this date. (If you find yourself dancing around while watching the video clip above, maybe you may have swam in the nude at the Y as a child, or maybe even as an adult.)


June 6, 1935 -
Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso (born Lhamo Dondrub), the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibet's Lamaistic Buddhists was born on this date.



Once again, I'm pissing off the Chinese gov't. At this rate, I believe during the oncoming cyber war, I will be given over to the Chinese, as part of the reparations.


June 6, 1944 -
73 years ago today, the largest seaborne invasion in history began - the allied invasion of Normandy (Operation Overlord.) The date is also commonly known as D-Day. The military calls the date of every major operation D-Day, probably to confuse the enemy.



This would have been especially confusing in Normandy, which is in France, where Day begins with a J. German spies were probably waiting to hear something about J-Jour.


June 6, 1955 -
That disturbs people when they know they didn't have the guts or integrity to stick to their dreams.



Sandra Bernhard, comedian/actress was also born on this day.


June 6, 1968 -
Senator Robert F. Kennedy died at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles on this date.



The Democratic lawmaker had been campaigning for his party's Presidential nomination when he was shot three times by Sirhan Bishara Sirhan a day earlier.


Jun 6 1976 -
American expatriate J. Paul Getty, named the richest man in the world in 1957, died in London at age 83.



According to the oil baron, "If you can count your money, you don't have a billion dollars."


June 6, 1985 -
Authorities in Embu, Brazil exhume the grave of one Wolfgang Gerhard in order to determine its true identity. The remains are later proven to be those of Dr. Josef Mengele, Auschwitz's notorious Angel of Death.

Mengele is thought to have drowned while swimming in the ocean in February 1979.


June 6, 1989 -
During the Tehran funeral of the Ayatollah Khomeini, frenzied mourners accidentally tipped his corpse out of its coffin and onto the ground.

Three million horrified followers bared witness to the desecration.

Oops!


June 6, 1990 -
US district court judge Jose Gonzalez ruled that the rap album by 2 Live Crew violated Florida's obscenity law.



Gonzalez declared that the predominant subject matter of the record is "directed to the 'dirty' thoughts and the loins, not to the intellect and the mind."

When I was a freshman at Columbia, they were not offering 'Interpreting dirty thoughts and the loins' that year.


On a personal note - Happy Birthday Joseph.

And so it goes.


1324

It's National Moonshine Day (why not?)

Moonshine traditionally is an illegally distilled spirit. Mostly made from a corn mash, moonshine is a distilled whiskey that is typically produced by an individual illegally without a permit. Also known as white lightning, mountain dew, homebrew, hillbilly pop, rotgut and too many more to list here.



The X’s on the moonshine jugs symbol represents the number of times a batch was run through the still. If marked XXX, the moonshine is pure alcohol.


Today is also Dead Duck Day, an annual event celebrated at the Natural History Museum in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.



Do you have anything else to do today? Perhaps you should do it. I'll give you a moment -



Still interested - It's the anniversary of the first known observation of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard duck.

Now, go about you business


June 5, 1939 -
The Wizard of Oz was test screened on this date.



(Folks, the video is a joke - the screening though did occur on this date.)


June 5, 1956 -
Elvis Presley appeared on Milton Berle's TV show on this date. His undulating hip movements during the song Hound Dog cause quite a national controversy.  (Once again kids - place one hand upon the screen and the other upon your 'afflicted' region.  Feel the healing powers of St. Elvis emanate throughout your body.)



Elvis' pelvis and Uncle Miltie's 'special gift' - American virginity was never the same again.


June 5, 1961 -
Roy Orbison's record Running Scared reached the number one position on the charts, on this date.



This was the last song Roy Orbison ever sung live. His final performance was on December 4, 1988, just two days before his sudden passing, at a Cleveland-area venue. As was his usual habit, Orbison closed the show with Running Scared.


June 5, 1998 -
Peter Weir's under rated film, The Truman Show (often credited with predicting the reality television phenomenon,) starring Jim Carrey, Laura Linney and Ed Harris, premiered on this date.



Every street name in Seahaven refers to a movie actor, e.g. "Lancaster Square" or "Barrymore Road." All of the "cast" members are likewise named after movie stars: Meryl, Marlon, Lauren, Kirk, Angela, etc.


Literary Corner


Today in History:
José Doroteo Arango Arámbula (aka Pancho Villa), one of the most famous generals of the Mexican Revolution (or notorious bandit - history is very fickle that way) was born on this date.



Pancho Villa was also responsible for a raid on Columbus, New Mexico in 1916, which was the first attack on U.S. soil since 1812.


June 5, 1938 -
The first machine in history to produce intelligible speech-like sounds was exhibited by  Homer Dudley, Richard Riesz, and Stanley Watkins. Called “Pedro, the Voder,” it is put on display to the public at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on this date.



In addition to human voices, it can imitate the sound of various farm animals.


June 5, 1967 -
The Six Day War erupted in the Middle East as Israel, convinced an Arab attack was imminent, raided Egyptian and Syrian military targets on this date.



I have enough problems with the Chinese government that I don't need any trouble with the entire Middle East by commenting on this fracas.


June 5, 1968 -
Seconds after Senator Robert F. Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan in a Los Angeles hotel, witnesses wrestle the assassin to the ground and grab his smoking .22-caliber revolver, on this date.



Sirhan later claims to have been acting unconsciously, the result of hypnotic brainwashing, possibly under the orders of a dog named Harvey in Long Island.


June 5, 1975 -
... Come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!...



During the Wish You Were Here recording sessions on this date, Syd Barrett just happens to wander into Abbey Road studio while Pink Floyd were mixing Shine On You Crazy Diamond, a song written about Barrett. At first, none of Syd's former bandmates recognizes the fat, bald lunatic who was compulsively brushing his teeth.



When someone tried to break the ice by asking Syd how he had put on so much weight, he maniacally replied, "I've got a very large fridge in the kitchen, and I've been eating a lot of pork chops!" This would be the last time any of the Pink Floyd members saw him.


June 5, 1981 –
The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that five people in Los Angeles, California, had a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems,

in what turns out to be the first recognized cases of AIDS.


June 5, 1998 -
Reuters and ABC News both erroneously reported the death of Bob Hope, after Arizona congressman Bob Stump announced the comedian's demise on the floor of the U.S. Congress.

This was a tremendous surprise of Bob Hope himself, who was eating breakfast at the time.

Oops.



And so it goes.


Before you go -  The One Love Manchester benefit concert yesterday, raised over raises over $10 million for victims of terror attack in Manchester.









Several sites streamed the concert live.


1325

Things are getting bad out there.

Have a good thought,

for the people of London this morning.


June 4, 1938 -
Another extremely funny Warner Bros. Cartoon, Porky the Fireman, was released on this date.



The director, Frank Tashlin, is one of the few directors to successfully make the transition from animation to live-action, noted especially for his work with Jerry Lewis. Tashlin never made a picture that couldn’t be slotted firmly into the genre of comedy.


June 4, 1953 -
Joseph L. Mankiewicz's adaptation of William Shakespeare's classic tragedy, Julius Caesar, starring Marlon Brando and just about ever middle aged British actor opened in general release on this date.



Director John Huston remarked on Brando's intense Method acting in this film as "like a hot furnace opening in a dark room."


June 4, 1963 -
The Nutty Professor, arguably Jerry Lewis' best directorial effort, was released on this date.



At the time of the making of this picture, Jerry was the commercial spokesman for Dr. Pepper explaining the product placement of a Dr. Pepper vending machine in the club scenes.


June 4, 1965 -
The Rolling Stones release Satisfaction on this date.



The final take was recorded just five days after Richards first came up with the idea. Three weeks later, it was released as a single in the US. An instant hit, it made The Stones stars in America. It helped that they were already touring the US to support it.


June 4, 1982 -
Paramount released the epic Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (which should have been titled, Battle of the Outrageous Toups) opened on this date.



At the time of the movie, both William Shatner and Ricardo Montalban were starring on TV series produced by Aaron Spelling.  Shatner was on TJ Hooker and Montalban was on Fantasy Island. Both aired on ABC-TV.

On the same day, Paramount released the horror classic, Poltergeist.



The production crew used real human skeletons because it was cheaper to purchase them instead of plastic ones.


June 4, 1984 -
Bruce Springsteen released Born in the USA on this date.



Born In The U.S.A. was the first CD manufactured in the United States for commercial release. It was pressed when CBS Records opened its CD manufacturing plant in Terre Haute, Indiana in 1984. Discs previously had been imported from Japan.


Don't forget to check out our other sight - Dr. Caligari's Cupboard


Today in History:
June 4, 1070 -
Roquefort cheese was accidentally discovered in a cave near Roquefort, France, when a shepherd found a lunch he had forgotten several days before, chasing after a pretty girl.



Remember, this is an estimated date - history doesn't normally record the spoiled luncheon choices hungry shepherds have. This was a very brave (or very hungry) shepherd.



Also, how do they know he was chasing a pretty girl.  Maybe he was chasing another virile and strapping youth.  Maybe it was a fetching sheep with a come-hither look. What business is it of yours anyway?


The Freemasons were officially founded in London on June 4, 1717.

The Freemasons are not a secret society of assassins. They do not have Cesar Borgia's head preserved in an urn filled with grappa. They were not responsible for the French Revolution. They did not kidnap Anastasia Romanov. They are not in control of the Hale-Bopp comet. They did not invent horseradish.

They were masters of masonry, however, and they ushered in a golden age of making things out of rocks.



Freemasons first appeared in England and Scotland in the 1300s, not long after the first appearance of the Loch Ness monster but well before the advent of crop circles. Most laborers of the era were villains and therefore prohibited from travel; since most stone masonry projects (such as cathedrals, churches, and big piles of rocks) required specialized training and large numbers of workers, however, stone masons were permitted to travel freely. They became known as Freemasons; their curious lunchboxes came to be known as mason jars.



Whenever the Freemasons arrived in town to start work on a new project, they set up a common area where they could meet one another, receive their pay, get food, train apprentices, rest, and get roaring drunk. These came to be known as lodges.



As the centuries passed, the Freemasons did less and less work with rocks and more and more drinking at lodges. Today, the Freemasons are a friendly social organization with a secret handshake, and are therefore believed to be responsible for selling out the governments of the world to an invading extraterrestrial army.


June 4, 1783 -
The Montgolfier brothers publicly demonstrate their unmanned montgolfière (hot air balloon) on this date.



The first untethered flight was recorded by the brothers later that year on November 21, 1783 in Paris, France.


June 4, 1798 -
Giacomo Girolamo Casanova de Seingalt, Venetian adventurer, syphilis sufferer and author, died in relative obscurity as the librarian of Count Waldstein of Bohemia on this date. The Count often ignored him at meals and failed to introduce him to important visiting guests. More over, Casanova, the testy outsider, was thoroughly disliked by most of the other inhabitants of the Castle of Dux. Casanova’s only friends seemed to be his fox terriers.



In despair, Casanova considered suicide, but instead decided that he must live on to record his memoirs, which he did until his death.



His main book Histoire de ma vie (History of My Life), part autobiography and part memoir, is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of the customs and norms of European social life during the 18th century. His last words are said to have been “I have lived as a philosopher and I die as a Christian.”


June 4, 1937 -
Sylvan Goldman ran a successful chain of grocery stores, where customers could carry hand baskets while they shopped. By 1937, when he was a major owner of the Humpty-Dumpty supermarket chain, he invented the shopping cart. He got the idea from a wooden folding chair. He designed the cart by putting a basket on the seat, another below and wheels on the legs. He and a mechanic, Fred Young put one together with a metal frame, and wire baskets.



On this date, Goldman placed an advertisement in the Oklahoma City papers, showing a woman exhausted by the weight of her shopping basket. “It’s new – It’s sensational. No more baskets to carry,” the ad said, referring to the new shopping cart.



Unfortunately, the customers didn’t want to use the carts. Young men thought they would appear weak; young women felt the carts were unfashionable; and older people didn’t want to appear helpless. So, Goldman hired models of all ages and both sexes to push the things around the store, pretending they were shopping.


June 4, 1989 -
Tiananmen Square protests (also know as the "June Fourth Incident") were ended in the typical manner of a totalitarian regime - with the People's Liberation Army soldiers and tanks, massacring the people they are supposed to serve.



Amnesty International estimated anywhere from 1,000 to 3,000 Chinese democracy advocates were killed on this day. The Chinese government puts the death toll at 241. Public commemoration of the incident is officially banned. However, the residents of Hong Kong have held an annual vigil on the anniversary of the crackdown, even after Hong Kong reverted to Chinese administration.

Once again, I'm not making any friends with the Chinese government.



And so it goes.



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Goo goo g'joob

The American Egg Board has declared that it is National Egg Day today.







I understand that the Egg Board is actually financing the Koch brothers (but you didn't hear that from me.)


Today is also the (Ningyo Kuyo) Memorial to Broken Dolls Day in Japan.

On this day each year, children bring their broken dolls to Buddhist shrines for funeral rituals. After the ceremony, the dolls are buried and enshrined.

This temple should be located on the Island of Misfit Toys.


June 3, 1948 -
Edward Brown Jr., a former navy pilot, opened the first Fly-In Drive-In Theater, in Farmingdale, NJ, on this date. There was room for 500 cars and 25 airplanes.

The planes landed at an airfield next to the Drive-In, then they would taxi to the last row which was set up for planes.

When the movies were over Mr. Brown provided a jeep to tow the planes back to the airfield.


June 3, 1955 -
The Billy Wilder comedy, The Seven Year Itch, opened on this date.



After seeing Walter Matthau's screen-test performance in the part of Richard Sherman, Billy Wilder believed he had found his lead man. However, 20th Century-Fox was unwilling to take the risk on a newcomer. That's when Wilder next turned his sights on the actor who had originated the role on Broadway, Tom Ewell.


June 3, 1964 -
The Rolling Stones made their U.S. (national) television debut on the ABC series The Hollywood Palace, hosted by Dean Martin, on this date.



The Stones’ first television appearance stateside was a June 2nd interview on The Les Crane Show (shown locally in New York City.)


June 3, 1969 -
The last episode of the original Star Trek series (Turnabout Intruder) aired on NBC-TV, on this date.



This episode was originally scheduled for broadcast on March 28, 1969. Special network coverage of the death of Dwight D.Eisenhower pre-empted it, and it didn't air until June 3.


June 3, 1988 -
Penny Marshall's iconic film about growing up. Big, starring Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, and Robert Loggia, premiered on this date.



According to Robert Loggia, on the day they filmed the famous keyboard scene at F.A.O. Schwarz, he and Tom Hanks noticed that doubles dressed like them were on hand just in case the two could not do the dance moves correctly. It became their goal to do the entire keyboard number without the aid of the doubles. They succeeded.

Don't forget to tune into the ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour


Today In History:
June 3, 1791 -
The French Assembly passes a resolution bringing decapitation to the common criminal: "Every person condemned to the death penalty shall have his head severed."



So it wasn't just for the rich anymore.

(I'm still hoping that we go back to the old 1% rule.  Beheading only for those who can well afford them)


June 3, 1888 -
Casey at the Bat, subtitled A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888, by Ernest Thayer, was published in the San Francisco Examiner on this date.



The things you have to do to get kids to read poetry now-a-days.


June 3, 1906 -
Josephine Baker, dancer, singer, bisexual Parisian nightclub owner and Resistance fighter, was born on this date.



During World War II, Baker became active in undercover work for the French Resistance movement. Josephine Baker died in France in 1975 and was buried in Paris. She was the first American born woman to be buried with full French Military Honors.


June 3, 1943 -
Three days after a sailor had been badly injured in a brawl with a group of Hispanics, a mob of 60 servicemen leaves the Los Angeles Naval Reserve Armory and bludgeons anybody wearing a zoot suit.



The first two victims are a couple of boys, aged 12 and 13, who were just sitting in the Carmen Theater watching a movie. Thus begins the famous week-long Zoot Suit Riot.


June 3, 1965 -
The first American astronaut to make a spacewalk was Major Edward White II, when he spent 20 minutes outside the Gemini 4 capsule during Earth orbit at an altitude of 120 miles. A tether and 25 foot airline were wrapped in gold tape to form a single,thick cord. He used a hand-held 7.5 pound oxygen jet propulsion gun to maneuver. The launch had taken place a few hours earlier on the same day.



During the remainder of the flight, pilot White and his crewmate commander James McDivitt completed 12 scientific and medical experiments. The total time in orbit was almost 98 hours, making 62 orbits. Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei A. Leonov, had made the first ever spacewalk for 10 minutes about three months earlier.


June 3, 1955 -
Barbara Graham, a convicted murderer, was executed in the gas chamber along with two accomplices on this date.



Susan Hayward won an Academy Award for playing Graham in the movie I Want to Live!


June 3, 1968 -
Valerie Solanas, author of the SCUM Manifesto, arrived at the art studio of Andy Warhol on this date and shot him three times in the torso. Warhol barely survived the attempt on his life. Solanas was later jailed and institutionalized.



Doctors finish the job Solanas attempted several years later in a NY hospital when they botch a gall bladder operation in 1987. Solanas died a year after that in a skid row hotel in San Francisco in 1988, purportedly still working on a sequel to her previous book .


June 3, 1989 -
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini died after 11 days in a hospital, recovering from surgery to stop internal hemorrhaging, on this date.



Khomeini became ill when he realized that through a very bad translation, 73 virgins were not waiting for him but 73 raisins.


June 3, 2015 -
Godzilla, 61, nuclear accident survivor, Pacific Islander, Tokyo Bay illegal immigrant has officially been given Japanese citizenship and has been named ambassador at large of the busy Shinjuku ward of Tokyo.



It's always heartwarming to see how other countries deal with their immigrant situations.



And so it goes.


Before you go - for no reason at all, The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain play Born This Way  -



You may continue with your life,



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Is there anything they can't do?

In NYC (and other parts of the country) everyone will be celebrating (the 79th anniversary of) National Donut Day today.



The holiday began as a fundraiser for the Salvation Army in 1938. It is celebrated annually on the first Friday of June, and honors all the female volunteers who served donuts to soldiers behind the front lines during World War I.



To celebrate Donut Day 2017, a few donut shops are offering a free donut deal. Celebrate at Krispy Kreme with a free donut of any variety, or at Dunkin' Donuts which is offering a free donut with the purchase of any beverage.



And this year, Entenmann's® Bakery is throwing a party to celebrate National Donut Day in Times Square on Broadway between 43rd and 44th by offering a FREE donut and a chance to win a prize.


June 2, 1957 -
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was interviewed on US television for the very first time when CBS's Face the Nation aired on this date.



With Cold War tensions running high, some government officials accused CBS of putting out Communist propaganda. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles refused to watch the interview.


June 2, 1973 -
Paul McCartney and Wings' song My Love, from the album Red Rose Freeway, hit No. 1 on the US singles chart on this date.



This is one of three songs of the same title to top the American singles chart. Petula Clark's "My Love," was # 1 in 1966 whilst Justin Timberlake's song of the same title reached the peak position in 2006.


June 2, 1989 -
Peter Weir's take on the classic film Goodbye Mr. Chips, Dead Poets Society, written by Tom Schulman, and starring Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, and Ethan Hawke opened in limited release on this date.



Peter Weir chose to shoot the film in chronological order to better capture the development of the relationships between the boys and their growing respect for Mr. Keating. Robin Williams considered this movie to be one of his favorite films of his own, and considered Peter Weir to be the best director he had ever worked with.


So sexy it hurts!


Today in History:
June 2, 1740 -
The Marquis de Sade was born on this date and his sexual proclivities made his name a noun.



His sexual proclivities themselves have been preserved in a mason jar at the Louvre.


June 2, 1793 -
Jean Paul Marat recites names of 29 people to the French Assembly, virtually all of whom will be guillotined. The Rain of Terror officially began in France.



This was one of the worst meteorological events in French history and cost hundreds of thousands of lives.


June 2, 1886 -
President (Steven) Grover Cleveland, 49 and weighing over 300 lbs. (think Gov. Chris Christie with a walrus mustache) married Frances Folsom (his legal ward) in a White House ceremony on this date. Ms.Folsom, was the 22-year-old daughter of Cleveland's late law partner and friend, Oscar Folsom.



The intimate wedding ceremony took place in the White House Blue Room with fewer than 40 people present (those who could get over the entire ick factor.) To date, Cleveland is the only president to marry in the Executive Mansion while in office.

Here's a great bar bet: One of Cleveland's first political post was when he was elected Sheriff of Erie County in New York State in 1870.  While in office, he presided over the hanging of two convicted murderers.  So when he was elected President in 1884 (and in 1892), he was the only President to have personally executed anyone.


June 2, 1896 -
The first radio patent was issued to Guglielmo Marconi in England for his wireless telegraphy apparatus, described as “Improvements in Transmitting Electrical Impulses and Signals, and in Apparatus Therefor.” (UK No. 12,039)







I wonder what will become of that new fangled thing?


June 2, 1897  -
Mark Twain, at age 61, was quoted by the New York Journal on this date, as saying "the report of my death was an exaggeration."

He was responding to the rumors that he had died.

That always puts a crimp in your day


June 2, 1910 -
Charles Stewart Rolls, one of the founders of Rolls-Royce, became the first man to fly an airplane nonstop across the English Channel both ways, on this date.

He became Britain's first aircraft fatality the following month when his biplane broke up in midair; he did not immediate return to his seat when the fasten your seat light was illuminated.


June 2, 1924 -
President Calvin Coolidge signed the Indian Citizenship Act (also known as the Snyder Act, after the bill's sponsor, Representative Homer P. Snyder, of New York,) granting full citizenship to all indigenous people born in the U.S. on this date.

Even Native Americans who were granted citizenship rights under the 1924 Act may not have had full citizenship and suffrage rights until 1948. Some states barred Native Americans from voting until 1957.


June 2, 1941 -
Baseball great, Lou Gehrig, died at 37 at his home in the Bronx on this date.



You would have thought someone might have mentioned to him that he had Lou Gehrig's disease earlier in his career.


June 2, 1953 -
Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Mountbatten officially becomes the head of her family's business and had her coronation on this date.



The entire ceremony was, save for the anointing and communion, televised throughout the Commonwealth, and was watched by an estimated 20 million people, with 12 million more listening on the radio.



The Queen's reign is longer than those of her four immediate predecessors combined (Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII and George VI). She is the longest reigning British or English monarch, the second-longest-serving current monarch of a sovereign state (after King Bhumibol of Thailand) and the oldest reigning British monarch.

Here are the Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom who served QEII

Sir Winston Churchill *    1952–1955
Sir Anthony Eden             1955–1957
Harold Macmillan            1957–1963
Sir Alec Douglas-Home   1963–1964
Harold Wilson                  1964–1970
Edward Heath                   1970–1974
Harold Wilson                  1974–1976
James Callaghan              1976–1979
Margaret Thatcher          1979–1990
John Major                      1990–1997
Tony Blair **                   1997–2007
Gordon Brown                 2007–2010
David Cameron  ***        2010 2016
Theresa May                    Current

*  Incredibly Churchill had the distinction of being the only MP to be elected under both Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II.
**  Tony Blair was the first Prime Minister to have been born during The Queen's reign. He was born in early May, 1953 - a month before the Coronation.
*** David Cameron was born in 1966; Prince Andrew, the Queen's third child was already 6 years old at the time.

And boy, is Charles chomping at the bit.


June 2, 1966 -
NASA had it's first successful moon landing with the Space Surveyor 1's soft landing, on this date.



The Soviet Union was the first when the Russian probe Luna 9 had a successful soft landing on the moon on February 3rd earlier in 1966 .



And so it goes.



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Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June.

June is the sixth month of the year and consists of thirty days. The ancient Romans gave it 29 days until 46 BC, when Julius Caesar added the thirtieth for reasons known only to himself (Caesar's hobbies seem to be conquest of the known world, sleeping with some very rich North African teenager and calendar making.) The last day of the month is therefore referred to as its "Caesarian Section" by calendar insiders. (Calendar insiders need to get out more often.)



The month is believed to derive its name from either the Roman goddess Juno, patron goddess of marriage, or the Latin word iuniores, (the young ones).



June marks the transition from spring to summer in the northern hemisphere, and from fall to winter in the southern hemisphere. (It is not a transitional month in other hemispheres.)



June has usually been the most popular month for weddings, but it's commonly overlooked that it's also one of the top twelve months for bathtub drownings and spontaneous combustion.



June is traditionally considered the poet's month because with the warming of the earth and the lengthening light of the fragrant evenings, thoughts inevitably turn to romance as hearts and passions swell. Also, June rhymes with a lot of words. For example: afternoon, aswoon, attune, baboon, balloon, bassoon, bestrewn, boon, buffoon, cartoon, cocoon, contrabassoon , croon, doubloon, dragoon, dune, entune, expugn, festoon, harpoon, hewn, honeymoon, immune, inopportune, impugn, jejune, lagoon, lampoon, loon, macaroon, maroon, monsoon, moon, noon, pantaloons, picayune, platoon, poltroon, pontoon, prune, raccoon, rune, saloon, soon, spittoon, spoon, strewn, swoon, tune, tycoon, typhoon, untramaroon, and vinegarroon.


June 1, 1956 -
Alfred Hitchcock's remake of his 1934 film, The Man Who Knew Too Much, starring Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day, opened in general release in the US on this date.




It was during the making of this film, when she saw how camels, goats and other "animal extras" in a marketplace scene were being treated, that Doris Day began her lifelong commitment to preventing animal abuse. She was so appalled at the conditions the animals were in that she refused to work unless they were properly fed and cared for.


June 1, 1966 -
Dick Van Dyke tripped over the ottoman for the last time when CBS aired the last episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Last Chapter on this date.



Sally Rogers (Rose Marie) comments that Alan intends to get Leonard Bershad to be the executive producer of the television series he intends to make from Rob's book. This is an inside joke referring to the real-life executive producer of The Dick Van Dyke Show, Sheldon Leonard, whose real name was Sheldon Leonard Bershad.


June 1, 1968 -
The British television series The Prisoner, starring Patrick McGoohan, had its American premiere on CBS-TV, as a summer replacement for a Jackie Gleason series, on this date.



At the end of the run of Secret Agent, there was a party, and some members of Parliament attended. Someone said to McGoohan, "So, what does a secret agent do when he retires?" meaning McGoohan. McGoohan took it literally and asked the question to some Parliament members. "Oh, we take care of them. We give them a house, a car, some pocket money, and that way they don't defect." This inspired McGoohan to create the show.


June 1, 1968  -
The Simon & Garfunkel release Mrs. Robinson hit No. 1 on the Billboard #100 list on this date.



Paul Simon was a much bigger fan of Mickey Mantle than Joe DiMaggio. On The Dick Cavett Show, Simon was asked by Mantle why he wasn't mentioned in the song instead of DiMaggio. Simon replied, "It's about syllables, Mick. It's about how many beats there are."


June 1, 1980 -
Cable News Network (CNN) made its debut as the first all-news station.



How sad, Darth Vader had to do voice over work to rebuild the death star


June 1, 1984 -
The third feature film of the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, starring the usually cast of characters on this date.



Production was endangered by the great fire at Paramount. William Shatner helped fight the fire and rescue a crewmember before firefighter reinforcements arrived. Shatner said that his motivation for doing so was purely to save a day on the shooting schedule, as he had a make a deadline to be available for shooting on a new season of T.J. Hooker.


Word of the day


Today in History:
June 1, 1494 -
The first written record of Scotch Whiskey appeared in the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland on this date.



It is generally agreed that Dalriadan Scots monks brought distillation with them when they came to Caledonia to convert the Picts to Christianity in the fourth and fifth centuries A.D. A Friar John Cor was the distiller of the first known batch.


June 1, 1571 -
The "Triple Tree" gallows was installed at Tyburn, England in time for the execution of John Storey, who was hanged, drawn, and quartered for committing treason.

The Triple Tree consists of an equilateral triangle nine feet long on each side, 18 feet off the ground. It can hang as many as 24 prisoners at once, and would remain in place for almost 200 years.


June 1, 1660 -
After having received a last-minute reprieve seven months earlier, Mary Dyer was hanged for heresy after returning to Boston on this date.



Dyer was guilty of the heinous crime of being a member of the Quakers, a subversive religious sect which had been banned by the Puritan colony under "pain of death" for their religious views of warm breakfast foods.


June 1, 1813 -
The U.S. Navy gained its motto as the mortally wounded commander of the U.S. frigate Chesapeake, Captain James Lawrence was heard to say, "Don't give up the ship!", during a losing battle with a British frigate Shannon; his ship was captured by the British frigate.



James Lawrence died of his wounds on June 4th, while the Chesapeake was being taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia, by her captors. His body was later repatriated to New York for burial.


June 1, 1926 -
Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world.



Gladys Baker gave birth to Norma Jeane Mortenson in Los Angeles on this date.

Unfortunately, things did not quite work out for little Norma Jean.


June 1, 1938 -
Superman made his first appearance in D.C. Comics’ Action Comics Series issue #1. The comic book sold for 10 cents. Jerry Siegel created Superman in 1933 after he dreamed about the Biblical story of Moses, whose parents abandoned him as a baby in order to save his life. This became the plot of the first Superman story.

It has been estimated that there are only 50 to 100 original copies of Action Comics #1 still in existence, and a smaller number of such exceptional quality as to be at the very high end of collectibility. One copy was stolen from actor Nicolas Cage, an avid comic book collector, in 2000. In March 2011, it was found in a storage locker in the San Fernando Valley and was verified by ComicConnect.com to be exactly the same copy that they sold to him previously. Cage had previously received an insurance payment for the item.


June 1, 1954 -
In the Peanuts comic strip, Linus' security blanket made its debut, on this date.

Although one of the things most associated with Linus is his obsessive need for the comfort provided by his security blanket, the intensity of that need clearly ebbs, as he is often (probably most frequently) shown without the beloved blanket.


June 1, 1967 -
It was 50 years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play (although, I have had some time to think about this and it would actually be 70 years today; it was 20 years on the date the album was released.)



The Beatles officially released their new album and was certified "gold" on the same day of release.



It topped the charts all over the world, holding the number one slot in Britain for 27 weeks and for 19 in America. It received four Grammys including Best Album.



The album is a strange mix of songs about drug use, contrasting personae of the songwriters, heroin injection, teenage runaways, circuses (yeah right, more drug use), deep introspection, aging, amorous traffic enforcement agents and the mundane things in life, among other things.


June 1, 1968 -
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart.



Helen Keller - America's all-time favorite deaf and blind Socialist - died in Westport, Connecticut at the age of 87, on this date..


June 1, 1974 -
The procedure, the Heimlich maneuver (named after Dr. Henry Heimlich) was first mentioned in an article on this date in the journal, Emergency Medicine.



It's a maneuver that has largely replaced the old fashioned back-blows that people used to perform on choking victims.


It's Oscar the Grouch's birthday today.



Remember to leave something nice out in the trash today. (Please note: when Oscar first moved into his trash can he was orange. Then the gangrene set in.)


It's also my sister's birthday

She doesn't usually make a big fuss about it but since she is the oldest relationship I have other than my parents, I will.

Happy Birthday



And so it goes


Before you go - Puddles was on America's Got Talent the other night -



The girls were screaming excitedly, Dad, your clown is on TV, your clown is on TV.  I'm not sure Puddles wants to be described as anyone's clown.



We could be here all night, I didn't play the new Pink Floyd cover.



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