Congratulations are in order

Congratulations, Joel!

Lordy

Two weddings in one year. Financially speaking, we are so screwed.

I really need to rework the lyrics to this song:

In the words of a wordsmith...

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

And now...

... the older daughter is engaged too.

More funny

One of the funniest things I've ever seen:



Heres the Bingley version.

Too funny

Sing it, Achmed!

Sucks

Just learned that a classmate has died, only 52. Fuck that. He was a good guy.

Foamy Rocks

Indeed.

My daughter the Grammar Nazi

Should have seen this one coming.

So while we're waiting for Daughter Number Two to arrive, I go on a bike ride. Get home, she just pulls into the driveway behind me. We go in the house and the Sainted Bride, who had been watching a recording of her afternoon shows while committing sundry acts of home improvement, says "You have to see the name of this website."

She scans back a bit on the DVD to a commercial for one of those lowlife lawyers scrotes that advertises on afternoon TV. This particular lawyer scrote's website is "WhoCanISue-dot-com".

DNT's first comment, before the expected rant against shysters: "First of all, it should be whom."

This positively defines the phrase "get a life"

The story's apparently a few weeks old but I just saw a bit about it on TV last night.

In Japan, a human married a character from the digital dating simulator Love Plus. One of the betrothed is named Nene Anegasaki, the other is named SAL9000. Guess which one is the human. If you said Nene, you're wrong. SAL9000 is a Japanese man, who fell in love with a video game character he met on his Nintendo DS. In a public ceremony last week Sunday, the two exchanged vows of eternal love and undying battery life. His parents must be so proud.

There are no words.

Oh wait, yes there are. But I'll ignore them an just tweak the guy voted Most Likely to Do Something Like This.

Oh, this is just low

OSWIECIM, Poland – The Nazis' infamous iron sign declaring "Arbeit Macht Frei" — German for "Work Sets You Free" — was stolen Friday from the entrance of the former Auschwitz death camp, Polish police said.

Jeez.

Recent email exchange apropos of nothin

My supervisor (female): Did you complete your sexual harassment training?

Me: I didn't. I was offended that they thought I was doing it wrong.

No, she has not beaten nor fired me yet. She's pretty cool that way.

Birthday Wishes Necessary

Happy Birthday, Blogmama!

Bingley reposted some old stuff...

...so I felt nudged to do the same. An old post from 'Pints:



GAIA FEVER
By Al "Peggy" Gore

People been a-hurtin' Gaia, Actin' like they don't even care
Every time we burn some oil, She get a fever that's so hard to bear
We give her fever - when we're drivin', Fever when we're sittin' tight
Fever - when we're breathin', Fever when we use a light

Fire up a Ford Explorer, Fire up a barbecue
Fire up a dreaded Hummer, Temp goes up a notch or two
She get the fever - from the lawnmowers, Fever from the auto mart
Fever - from the Lear jets, Fever from the bovine farts
Poor ol' Gaia got the fever, Fever from the CO2
Good for us to realize this, We needed somethin' new to do

Carl Sagan had a nightmare, Said nuclear winter'd make us freeze
But Ronnie whipped the Soviet Union, So "winter" is now "risin' seas"
'Cause we got fever - to go protest, Fever to burn SUVs
Fever - from burning tires, Fever from the burning trees

Billy Jeff loved Kyoto, Said that it would cool the air
Mentioned it to the Senate, they said "Billy Jeff don't you dare"
'Cause they love fever - and the profits Halliburton sends their way
Fever - for the alcohol Farmers back in Ioway

Now you've seen my new movie, Everybody knows I care
So just keep givin' Gaia fever, 'cause she will drown the polar bears
And give me fever, for my wallet, Fever for my polity
Fever - to be runnin' as a Presidential nominee
What a lovely way to run
What a lovely way to run

Snow

Cool.

Almost worth moving to Florida...

... to vote for this man.



Thanks Sis

First impressions

Whee! Fun!

Picked it up today

This little beauty.

And exactly on the timestamp. The state of Kalifornia didn't get one extra minute on my waiting period. And I'm heading to the ranch tomorrow at 0-dark-hundred for to try it out. And maybe find a turkey.

Quote of the day

"The man wants four good men. That's me and one extra."

Heh. I don't expect anyone to know the reference. I didn't (though I've seen the show in reruns). From here:

This is a scream

Check it out:

Thought experiment

Actually, just plumbing this tiny audience's brains for amusement.

If you could pick just one personality to be able to visit before he/she died, which may be soon because of advanced age, in order to let that person know how much you appreciate their contribution to the arts, who would it be?

My top three, in roughly chronological order of their stardom:

Patti Andrews
Gogi Grant
Chuck Berry

Drop yours in the comments.

My new toy

I've wanted one for years, just started the paperwork on it today.

Go here and move your cursor on the fourth one down (6.5 inch blued). I'd like it if the rosewood grips came on the blued models but I'll have to settle for the black rubber grips.

Why I love the blogosphere

[This is a repost of an old 'Pints post, especially for the darling Lemon Stand; links updated to her repost of an old favorite]

And why I love the dear folks who drop by this tiny little corner of it.

A few days ago [Well, actually it was in 2007 – Ed.] I mentioned a picture I got a kick out of, which was really only part of a picture, being on the back of an article clipped out of the Red Bluff Daily News. Today the lovely Lemon Stand dropped by and mentioned that I should have scanned it. Well, yeah, I should have. So I did and emailed it to her.

Naturally, the dear lady knows the picture, the ship, and the context. And she has posted it (after very kindly sending me a large, full-color copy of the original).

Yes, I am ashamed that I did not recognize the Mighty Mo. I blame the beer. And the ignorance...

This explains a lot

[Stolen from DNT]

Why the Wankees can afford that monstrous payroll:

Report: Yankees Trademarked 'Yankees Suck' Chant In 1996
Team Has Earned More Than $90 Billion From Popular Phrase
November 13, 2009 | Onion Sports

TAMPA, FL—New York Yankees team ownership revealed Tuesday that the phrase "Yankees suck," one of the most popular chants in sports, was trademarked by the 27-time World Series champions prior to the 1996 season, a business strategy that has earned the team close to $100 billion over the past 13 years.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office records show that every time an individual chants, shouts, or writes the words "Yankees suck," the New York Yankees organization earns at least $2.15, an amount that escalates depending on repetition, volume, and whether the phrase was used during a national broadcast.

I always suspected...

I probably shouldn't do this...

...being the father of teenage girls.

Wait, they're no longer teenagers. Both are in their 20s.

Still, it seems weird to post this, being the father of teenage girls adults.

But I just couldn't pass it up. Too amusing. From Daughter Number One's facebook page (note that she is an old married lady in every way but some kind of gummint certificate):

Top 10 reasons to date an Ultimate Frisbee player:
10. If he dumps you, it's only to swing.
9. His hammer is really long.
8. His flow is impeccable.
7. He'll tell you when it's UP.
6. He let's you pull it so he can get ready to score.
5. He'll stay on you for an intense 10 seconds.
4. If he breaks you, you're screwed.
3. He'll go deep on every play.
2. He doesn't wait for it, he comes to.
1. He'll go at it with you til he scores 15 times.

Man, if she were still under 18, I'd be whoopin' on her ass with a switch.

Yay!

The dear and lovely Lemon Stand is back!

Coolness

Sometime back (at 'Pints or here, I forget which) I noted that an old picture in my possesion, captioned "Grandma Stone" was finally identified by the Tehama County Genealogical Society.

Tonight I got an email from the Society, asking for permission to use it in an upcoming article of the Society's periodical book. I'm happy to oblige.

Better: the article is being written by a grandson of said Grandma Stone. And if I can get a snail mail address for the fine fellow, I am going to send him the original picture. Because no one in my family knows the lady since my grandpa died more than forty years ago, and the picture should live with her family.

That's a good feeling.

So what be happenin' 'round here?

Well, I'll tell you. Had a good deer season, got a very nice five-point. Had a great visit out at the ranch with my putative son, Wunderkraut. He's posted some great pics of his California trip on facebook, even some of me. I may steal them.

Yesterday, I had a nice-but-all-too-short visit with Army of Mom, who was at a conference in this area. She took a pic of me too, which you may see here. She deigned to be seen in public with me, bless her kind-yet-slightly-demented heart.

Aside from that, work work work. Heigh Ho, I Owe, so Off to Work I Go, and all that.

Unbelievable, even from the LAT

Mickey Kaus and Glenn Reynolds had some amusement on this headline spin in the L.A. Times:

Democrats score congressional victories in California, New York

The GOP fares better in Virginia and New Jersey as both states elect Republican governors.

Okay, the subhead is not bad, but Kaus and IP didn't go quite far enough in looking at the embedded spin in the story. Lead paragraph:

Reporting from San Francisco and Washington - A Democrat won a special congressional election in a heavily Republican district in northern New York by exploiting a battle between moderates and conservatives for control of the GOP.

Thence follow five additional paragraphs on the same race.

Following that comes:

Democrats scored another victory in California, as Lt. Gov. John Garamendi won a special election to a Northern California congressional seat, keeping the district in Democratic hands.

And there follow another two paragraphs on a pretty meaningless, yet already predetermined, Congressional race.

And finally, we get the the tenth paragraph:

Meanwhile, Republicans seized the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey, giving the GOP a psychological boost heading into next year's midterm elections.

You just can't make this stuff up.

Musical Trivia Question

Super-mega-dumb-easy-hyper-duh-greenhorn-rookie-hates-country-music-but-will-still-get-the-answer-because-like-DUUUUUH Edition:

What do you get when you work your fingers to the bone?

[No particular reason for posting this except that it just popped into my head, and I am now officially on vacation as of this afternoon, preparing to head up country tomorrow for to stalk the elusice blacktail deer and to meet up with my putative son here in a little more than a week]

Quote of the day

So I'm sadly watching my Angels drop yet another to the Wankees. But I did manage to scrape up a little bit of baseball goodness:

“Don Drysdale would consider an intentional walk a waste of three pitches. If he wants to put you on base, he can hit you with one pitch.” - Mike Shannon

For the (sadly, all to short) career of the legendary Sandy Koufax, see here. For some more great baseball quotes, this time specifically about those crazy knuckleballers, see here.

"I always thought the knuckleball was the easiest pitch to catch. Wait'll it stops rolling, then go to the backstop and pick it up." ― broadcaster and former catcher Bob Uecker

"There are two theories on hitting a knuckleball. Unfortunately, neither of them works." ― famed hitting coach Charlie Lau

"For a knuckleballer, a pitch count of 150 is not a problem. Unless it's the first inning." ― Dave Clark, author of The Knucklebook

Heh.

Quote of the day/Name That Book!

It's two (two!) two posts in one! Because I've not been posting often lately.

So I'm on my way home from work, listening to yet another book on CD. On my tiny little backroad that I take home, I passed a car going very slowly with his blinkers on. He waved me around, so I rolled down the window and asked if he needed help. He didn't, had a cell phone, all cool.

Later on the same road, I passed some goth-looking kids by a car parked at the side of the road, blinkers on, but they looked like they hadn't a care in the world and continued smoking butts and kind of waved "hi" as I went by, so I went on.

Then came the sirens. Firetruck passing me in the other direction. Then another. Then another. Then an ambulance. So I don't know what happened, and I can't find it on the local news/traffic websites, nor even on the CHP incident website. Backroads don't rate much, I guess.

But anyway, I heard a great line in my "book on CD" and thought I would share it to see if anyone still reading this lonely outpost of the blogosphere might recognize it (and I don't want to go out to the car to retrieve the CD, so it's close but only from a two-beered-up memory):

"So what's the plan?"
"Your call. You have two options. We could take you to the airport and fly you out. Six hours and it's over."
"What's the other option?"
"Chavez, how would you like to get the fucker that did this to you?"

Tachyon Meetings

I love them

Hilarious

Oh my God, this is funny. (Via Val)

Brilliant!

The first episode of Mr. Peabody and Sherman:



I saw it many years ago, loved the idea of the "Should Have Been" machine.

Minor observation: It could never be done today, certainly not the same way. Peabody is a "soldier of fortune" and his penthouse apartment has a bearskin rug and rifles on the wall.

HAHAHAHAHA!

Thanks Lisa!



"Later in the hour we'll look at the rumor sweeping the internet that Obama himself is born of fire..."

"Moving on, a new report finds extra-marital affairs cause happiness in scientists."

HAHAHAHAHA!

I'm a bad person

Because I find this funny.

This too:

Quote of the day

And speaking of the darling Emily, here is a quote for the day:

We shouldn't begrudge people for being born on third base, but we sure do have the right to call bullshit when they try and act like they hit a triple to get there.

So true.

Thanks, I needed that

Oh man, long, intense day and I was in great need of some amusement.

And the Lovely Emily provided it.

Country singer Blake Shelton tweaking the PETArds.

PETA: Thanks 4 spreadin’ the word, animal testing breaks hearts!
SHELTON: So does a 30-06 at 150 yards!!!

BWAHAHA!

Read the whole exchange.

For our buddy Dave E

Oh man, Dave, I know you're on pins and needles. 5 to 5, top of the 12th but the Tiggers have bases loaded with two out.

UPDATE: Oh good. Dave will not slit his wrists tonight.

Righteous

So the Strange and Odd Mr. Bingley stumbles across a great video. It's by the same person who posted this:



Ha! Most excellent on both! Much like the person who keeps on making those Hitler videos:



And speaking of righteous:

How cool is that?

Recently on Facebook, I reconnected with some old friends, including some with whom I went all the way from kindergarten through high school. One of them, just a few months ago, had lunch with our second grade teacher (second grade being damned near 45 years ago). So I sent a letter to said teacher. And just this evening got a response from her (who, I learn from said letter, lives pretty near another gal who was in our kindergarten class).

Said teacher is 83 years old, doing well, traveling the world including a recent cruise to Antarctica.

How cool is that?

Dinner tonight?

I'm glad you asked. An old American favorite: Fried chicken.

And for the side fixin's? Another old American favorite: Pease*, spiced up with some Canadian bacon. I still had some in the freezer, and though the original recipe I'm following calls for salt pork, I di'n't have any and this sounded like a good substitute.

*Seriously, that's the original form of the word and it was used the same way we use the word "corn" still. There weren't no individual "pea"s in the original olden days.

HAHAHAHA! You HAVE to do this!

Scroll ahead to the "dueling banjos" part of this video, about 3:40 into it, and listen to them try to top each other:



Ha! Eric Weissberg and Tom Paxton. What's not to love?

Quote of the century

From the lovely Daughter Number Two:

"[DNT] is WTFing in WTFment"

Leave it to her to coin one of the greatest phrases of the 21st century.

And I fully intend to find a way to work that into a conversation.

Righteous

Via my buddy Ira (my liberal friend who made me an honorary Jew):

HAHAHAHA!

That is so freakin' funny.

Great Googly Moogly

I expect that this exercize in the pursuit of "peace" will be about as effective as the original.

What will you do to make peace on 21 September?

I don't know specifically, but killing a few hundred terrorists would be a nice start.

Morning chuckle

Came across this while looking for something else. Hadn't heard it in years. Enjoy.

Just FYI...

Our dear and lovely friend Maggie May has moved her digs. She can now be found here:

No Retreat, Baby, No Surrender.

Adjust your bookmarks accordingly.

Sumbitch

I'll be damned. One of my favorite rock/country/amusing songs of all time. All these years I thought only Charlie Ryan and Commander Cody covered it. Boy was I wrong:



Sing it Roger!

Declared

It is the position of this blog that this is the suckiest rock 'n' roll* song of all time and that it set back the progress of rock 'n' roll by at least 50 years. I don't care that it charted on the Billboard Hot 100, nor that it charted on the R&B charts and the country charts. It still sucks.

If you disagree, please slap yourself until you come to your senses.

*Disco doesn't count. It is not rock 'n' roll. And it's in a class of suckiness all by itself.

UPDATE: This is a strong contender for #2. Not as bad, but still sucky.

Still laughing

Found on facebook by a distant relation of a relation:



Here's your sign.

Oh, and this seems to be somewhat old, making reference to postage going up from 39 cents to 41 cents. Still, pretty amusing.

Chuckle

First seen via our buddy Dave J, later I found the original via Physics Geek. From Neal Boortz (but I'm using the formulation I saw from Dave):

BREAKING NEWS!!!! Kanye West just interrupted Patrick Swayze's funeral and said "Michael Jackson's funeral was way better!"

Snort!

Rule 34

Oh, sweet baby Jesus. Somebody actually went and did this.

A Poll!

Compare and contrast for one of my favorite songs of all time.

Gogi Grant:


Patsy Cline:


Call now! Operators are standing by!

Well, actually, we fired the operators. Drop your comments in the comment section.

Shut up, kids

Your time is coming.

My buddy Julie sent this along:

What is your time worth?

Thoughtful silence for a fallen hero:



One minute.

The time you lost to the funeral procession for a fallen hero:



Five minutes.

Getting smacked upside the head with a very polite clue bat because your petty little complaint is "self-serving and without merit":



Priceless.

Getting stuck behind a funeral procession for a fallen hero is one of those things. For some perspective on why you shouldn't get whiny about it, there's Sheriff Boyer.

New reading material

Made our occasional trip to Borders today. Picked up this.

And this.

And this.

And this.

Just a little light reading...

UPDATE: Forgot to mention before, I also checked out "Common Sense" on tape from the library, for to take on my weekend bike rides. Interestingly, this particular "book on tape" is read by Adrian Cronauer.

This is pretty cool

General Patton's real voice. Man, what I wouldn't give to hear him give the original version of the original speech in his own voice. Not to denigrate George C. Scott's portrayal, but damn.



UPDATE: This is pretty cool too:

So what was I doing that day?

I was at work. Got there around 5 or 5:30, answered emails and such. A little before 6 I went out to the car for some reason, don't remember just why. Turned on the radio and it was on a network (rather than local) feed. They talked about an airplane hitting one of the WTC towers. So I went back inside to see the TV we have in the lunchroom.

The news there was showing video of the tower burning, and talked about how a jetliner had hit the tower. Much later, the local RWDB radio talked about how it was obviously an attack (broad daylight in Manhattan and no pilot would do that by mistake and so on) but I am a strong supporter of Hanlon's razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. So I immediately assumed that someone had messed up bigtime.

But as I watched that tower burn, the second plane hit. And I immediately thought, "A lot of people are going to die for this." And I didn't even know about the other two planes yet, nor about the Palestinians dancing in the streets.

Never forget. Never forgive.

Remembering September 11, 2001

[Bringing back my original post]

HERO:

Remembering Tom Burnett, a Hero of Flight 93.



Tom was one of the leaders of the passengers who fought back to retake Flight 93 and prevent even more devastation and death.

A born leader, Tom quarterbacked his high school football team to the state championship game. After college, he took a sales job and worked his way up to vice president of Thoratec Corporation in San Ramon, CA.

He met his future wife, Deena, in 1989 and they were married three years later. They had three beautiful daughters. A devoted father, he once insisted that he and Deena travel separately by plane on vacation, so that their girls could not be left parentless should something happen.



When flight 93 was taken over by hijackers,

He made four calls to his wife, Deena, from the plane. Deena Burnett said that her husband told her that one passenger had been stabbed and that "a group of us are going to do something.". He also told her that the people on board knew about the attack on the World Trade Center, apparently through other phone calls.

Tom, Tod Beamer, and Jeremy Glick led the passenger revolt when they learned of the planes that hit the twin towers, and soldiered the first counterattack in the War on Terror.

Tom's legacy is best summarized by a schoolchild commenting on the September 11 website:

[A]t my school we were asked to write about someone brave that was in this horrific tragedy. So I picked Mr. Burnett because he was one the most wonderfulest man that I have ever read about and heard about. He is my hero because of everything he has done

Mine too.

There is a street named for Tom Burnett in Pleasanton, CA, honoring his life and his heroism.

This is starting to bug me

My Dodgers are only two games in front. Manny needs to go back on the DL. Anybody got a phone number for Tonya Harding?

Minor observation, apropos of nothing

Why is it that amongst all these highly paid talking heads floating around in the media, not to mention all those highly paid (off) politicians infesting the feddal gummint, apparently not a single damned one can properly tie a necktie?

It's really irritating to see sloppily tied Windsor-wannabes on all of these cretins.

Reminds me...

This bumper sticker at Instapundit reminds me of one I saw this weekend while up country. "If you don't stand behind our troops, please feel free to stand in front of them."

What's for dinner tonight, you ask?

I'm glad you asked. I'm making my first attempt at dove pie. I'll let you know how it goes.

UPDATE: It was excellent.

Home again

After a very quick trip up country.

I think I mentioned a few weeks back that I went to the ranch to get the pickup truck for to help Daughter Number Two move into her new digs. Well, this weekend she brought her old car ("Helen", as in, "Helen Wheels", though that's not why she named her so... long story) back home to here, after getting a new one. And so I carted said DNT back to her new digs on my way to take the pick-'em-up truck back up to the ranch for to retrieve the venerable Scooby-Doo.

Oh, and to hunt a few doves. Got four between last night and this morning. And tomorrow, Good Lord willing and the creek don't rise, etc., and so on, dinner shall be dove pie.

But for now my butt's tired and I'm going to bed. 'Night all.

Oh, before I forget, a great big shoutout to the Revolutionary War Veterans Association. These dudes are cool. I may expand on this later.

Just curious...

Does anyone else get a queasy feeling in the pit of the stomach at the idea that our country's National Security Advisor is Jim Jones?

Because I sure do...

Stoked

...and gratified.

Some of you may have been wondering why I had little to contribute to the last FFOT. Well, it's because my sainted and blessed crew is scheduled to present their recent team projects at the company meeting in September. And this presentation looks exceedingly great. I've been working for a while polishing up the presentation, but the essence is this team's work. Hard work. A LOT of hard work. And my crew is the best. They ROCK (as is conveyed in the video we are presenting to the company). They do, indeed, ROCK.

Even if they are likely too young to get the best jokes I threw into it. [sigh] I'm so old. Anyway, I love these kids. They're the best.

UPDATE: So one of said jokes used is that the music used for the last part of the presentation is the (very recognizeable) crescendo from the Beatles' "A Day in the Life", superimposed over a photoshopped pic of my kids with their faces replacing the original Beatles' faces on the Sgt. Pepper album cover. Sad part? ALL of my kids on this spectacular team were born after that album was released. The only consolation is that all were at least born before 1980. I think. I hope.

GAWD I'm old.

Tired and sore

Helped DNT and her beau move into their new apartment today. Lot of heavy lifting, including a sofa and a very heavy desk. Into a second floor apartment.

I'm sure I will feel it even more tomorrow.

Random, pointless comment I really need to find a chance to work into a conversation someday

“Don’t make me put on my Smokey Bear hat and go all Louis Gossett on you”

I don’t really know why it popped into my head randomly this afternoon, but it amuses me.

'Splain me please

Apparently, some of those in favor of Obamacare are invoking Ted Kennedy to push for it. Apparently, some even suggest naming the bill for him in a desperate bid to counter the opposition (irony alert for how lefties raged against Rush Limbaugh for saying that a few months back).

So, given that (a) Kennedy was a participant in Congress's high-end health care plan, and (b) Congress has exempted itself from whatever plan they might foist on the rest of us, I ask:

How is Kennedy's death in any way relevant to the issue?

Yowsers

This is going to be so good.

So I spent my telecommute day (today) largely working on my team's presentation at the company meeting in Sept. Gads, I love these kids on my team, tho' they largely be too young to get the jokes I'm throwing into the presentation. But my team facilitator and I are old enough to get them, and that's what counts.

The kids on the team organized the content and left it to yours truly to make the jokes. And I did. Some old time rock 'n' roll. And it is good.

And now I just need to spend my next telecommute day (next week, not counting the time I spend on it this weekend) synching up the visuals with the background music. Vivaldi, of course. Need I say more? And someday I may even 'splain it.

It's an old joke

But it's mine and I refuse to part with it. Brief exchange with a coworker just a few minutes ago:

Her: Did you cut your hair?
Me: No, I paid someone else to cut it.

I never get tired of that one.

UPDATE: Interestingly, to me at least, the first time I ever used that joke, some 25 years or so ago, it was in Spanish.

Talkin' Baseball

Very cool. An unassisted triple play. Only the 15th in history, and only the second in history to end a game. Very cool. And of course, it's already on Youtube.

Heh

Okay, I've (obviously) never been a fan of Snoop Dog, seeing as how I'm an old fogey who doesn't listen to rap music. But I gotta tell ya, he does seem to be fairly personable and witty. And he chose Ken Jennings as his lifeline (I think, not actually certain on that point).

And, as I had suspected but never confirmed, he chose his stage name from Snoopy. I like that.

Congrats!

To New Daddy Mike!

Stop me...

... I'm having too much fun.

So I'm on my telecommute day for the week, working on my team's presentation for the company meeting next month. And having loads of fun at it. So much so it can hardly be called work. The creative juices are flowing, the beer is flowing, and my only fear is that it will run over the normally allotted time.

But no matter. It's fun. And we still have a few weeks to polish it. Life is good.

How oddly appropriate...

So I took some time today to get my new USB turntable set up with the appropriate software on the computer, for to be able to transfer those hundreds of albums we have on vinyl to useable mp3 versions for to burn onto CDs. It's a new era for us.

And what was the very first thing I transferred from vinyl to mp3?

Vivaldi's "Spring" from "The Four Seasons".

Oddly appropriate, no?

Random observation, apropros of nothing

While looking up an entirely different thing, I happened across a Doc Watson video. And, intrigued, I wondered if he was still among us. He is, born 1923 and still going.

And the random observation? I learned that he was (very possibly) "named" after Doctor Watson of Sherlock Holmes fame:

According to Doc on his three CD biographical recording Legacy, he got the nickname "Doc" during a live radio broadcast when the announcer remarked that his given name Arthel was odd and he needed an easy nickname to go by. A fan in the crowd shouted "Call him Doc!" presumably in reference to the Sherlock Holmes sidekick Doctor Watson. The name stuck ever since.

I find that very cool.

Coolness

So this facebook thing still kind of rocks. I've been in contact with some folks from high school. Including one (well, more than one actually) who was in my class all the way from kindergarten through high school.

This past summer, she had lunch with our second grade teacher. Is that too cool or what? And I now have contact info for said teacher, which I shall put to good use tomorrow.

Said teacher has also, I hear, recently completed one of her life goals - to visit all of the continents. How cool is that?

Sad

It just occurred to me that, with the untimely demise of 'Pints, the internet has a great, gaping void where there used to be Lesbian Gorilla Blogging.

I must remedy this. I just hope Bitter stills cares.

I finally found it!

THE GREATEST VOICE IN HISTORY DELIVERING THE GREATEST MOVIE LINE IN HISTORY!

Roscoe, you are so good.

"Forgive me for the men I have killed in anger, and those I am about to."

Back

From a whirlwind trip upcountry. Daughter Number Two needed to move out of her current apartment this weekend, though she can't move into her new one for a few weeks. So I boogied upcountry to retrieve the family pick-em-up truck from the ranch. Spent part of the day there bumming around, looking for coyotes, and plinking with the .45 and the 9mm and a .22.

Spent today packing boxes and cleaning and such at DNT's apartment, and packed her furniture into the truck and boxes into her mother's car to store at home for the duration. But that's not interesting. What is interesting is something I found at the ranch.

While there, I peered more deeply than I had before into one of my Mom's furniture items (not exactly a cabinet, more of an end table with storage space). Found a stack of old vinyl albums. A lot of Country/Western, of course. Also some Christmas albums and some of patriotic songs, even a couple of Broadway shows (Fiddler being one). All not unexpected.

Then I happened across a Fifth Dimension album. Now my Mom graduated high school in the early 1950s, and so was very familiar with the early rock 'n' roll. At one time, we even had "Rock Around the Clock" on a 45, though I don't know what happened to that particular record. But the Fifth Dimension were of a subsequent generation, though they have a lovely sound which appeals to many generations. A bit surprising, but I thought, could be. She liked Peter, Paul, and Mary and had one of their CDs. Heck, my Dad, and old school C/W nut, actually liked what he heard of Loggins and Messina.

Then I happened on the REALLY surprising one. An album of Junior Walker and the All-Stars. That is DEFINITELY not Mom's style (but I'd be VERY pleasantly surprised if it was). Most likely scenario that I can figure is that back in the 1980s or maybe early 1990s, my Mom bought a stereo system with a turntable that could transfer vinyl to cassette tapes. She was going to copy a bunch for my Auntie, and the only thing I can guess is that the stacks o' wax that Auntie gave her to copy included my cousin's albums.

That's really the only likely scenario, although I would love to learn that Mom was a fan of Junior Walker.

Sooo...

That attempt at Canadian Bacon. Not bad.

I started with a loin from a wild sow I took late last year, been in the freezer. I looked up a recipe for making the bacon and adapted it to a somewhat smaller scale. All things considered, not bad.

Those things considered?

Well, for starters, I thought of this on a whim and couldn't find nitrite (or "pink") salt at my local Safeway, so I did without. Next time I'll try to locate some in advance. For this attempt, just made do with the basic salt and sugar, plus some Montreal Steak Seasoning.

Second, I didn't try to smoke it after curing. I cheated and dumped some liquid smoke into the brine.

This evening I pulled the smaller piece out of the brine and fried some up. The recipe said to brine it for two days and it's been that. Just for kicks, though, I think I'll leave the rest in the brine for another day.

And in regard to...

Facebook. In addition to classmates from HS and college, I happened upon a Jr. High and HS teacher. How cool is that?

Well, this should be interesting

I just today started brining my first ever attempt at making Canadian bacon. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Um, wow

Shades of stream of consciousness and beer and stuff.

So I went on my normal bike ride earlier. Gotta do that cardio crap at least once in a while. I took along a CD, of course, continuing to listen to this once again. Not ten minutes down the road, the batteries crapped out. I really need to learn to carry spare batteries.

Anyway, I spent the rest of my ride rehashing music in my head. Some old time country. Some old time rock and roll. Lots of classics worth youtubing tonight. I've posted most of them before. But while searching on youtube this evening for stuff, I came across this. It's from the 50s, I think, can't be certain. It's Marty Robbins singing one of his well known songs. But what struck me about the video is the backup singers. They seem to have looks on their faces along the lines of "Man, I can do this stuff, how come I'm not the star?"

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but here's Marty with "Devil Woman":



UPDATE> I should have quit when I was ahead. I just found this sad song:

Youtubin'

So after a long-ass, ugly week (at the very end of which I learned about some of my woeful ig'nance of certain subjects - don't ask) I decided to sit down with some many beers and go a youtubin' for some end-of-the-week soul-salvin'. And since my end-of-the-week soul-salvin' included some many beers, it had to include the Acerbic Atlas of Alcohol.

But, yet, still, and also, given my recent foray into 1950s Rock and Roll, it would need a 1950s component. Well lo and behold, George covered one of Chuck Berry's great songs. And it's a gem. And, unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be available on youtube, so far as I can tell.

But Chuck Berry is there:



Of course, I couldn't let this post go by without George's signature (well, at least one of them) tune:



And to tie it all together, here is an amazing trifecta. Chuck Berry and George Thorogood together, with the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughn:



Glad this week's over, so I can enjoy some of these gems.

Despites its faults...

...facebook still kind of rocks. Besides that last post, I connected with another high school classmate (among others). Seems she lives in the same town where Little Bro the Firefighter is a, um, firefighter. And she has met him at a firefighter/city function.

And afterward when he responded to an emergency call (minor, thankfully) at her home not long after.

It's a Small World, After All.

Quote of the day

From a school chum I just reconnected with on facebook:

Thats old, when you have been married longer than you were not married.

True enough, buddy.

For Sheila

A picture from Main Street at Disneyland:

The Rifles I Still Want

[This post prompted by this week's Big 5 ad, which has Garands on sale for $800, which cash I do not have]

I've posted it before, but if I had the cash, here are some rifles I'd want:

A Garand.

A 1903 Springfield.

A 1892 Krag-Jorgensen.

A 1873 Springfield in .45-70 (not to mention a boatload of others in .45-70, including the Remington rolling block).

And a bunch of others.

[sigh] I need a boatload of spare cash.

Those Disney Pins

I took a picture:



The one on the right is the one signed by the designer. The one on the left, I think that statue of Walt is at Disney World. Walt put much of his efforts into making Disney World and EPCOT a reality, I just wish he'd lived to see them.

And speaking of which: Space Mountain at Disneyland opened in 1977, it was 12 years in the making. It was the last attraction that Walt himself worked on, shortly before his death in 1966. He may even have conceived it himself, but I'm not certain of that point.

Trip Report

So here is the long-promised trip report. What did we do on our vacay? Visited Disneyland! And Daughter Number One and her husband-in-all-ways-except-a-piece-of-paper.

Some changes there since my last visit. For one thing, last time I was there we parked out front. Can't do that no more, seeing as how California Adventure lives there in the old parking lot. Also, they've closed a few of the old rides, such as the Fantasyland Autopia, which has been subsumed into the Tomorrowland Autopia. And in the giant round building that once housed the Carousel of Progress (replaced by America Sings, and later by something else I don't remember at the moment) is now an attraction called Innoventions. It's pretty cool, and still uses the old song from the Carousel of Progress ("There's a Great, Big, Beautiful Tomorrow", with some changes to the lyrics).

Speaking of which, the intro to Innoventions includes a pic of the "Plastic House" ("What were you THINKING??????"). I don't remember that one, even though I've been going to D-land long enough to consider Pirates of the Caribbean a "new" ride (and it opened in 1966). Oddly enough, that plastic house keeps showing up in stuff now, and not only in the Disneyland history book I picked up in one of the shops, it pops up in a large display at the Autopia, and in a pin (about which more below). Speaking of the Autopia, the old Porsche-looking cars have been replaced by some reminiscent of the recent movie "Cars". Even I, an old dude, recognized them.

From that book I picked up, I learned that in the olden days (1950s) there were stage coaches and pack trains in Frontierland. That was even before the Mine Train, which I remember but never actually rode before they closed it. There was also a Plastic House (go figure) and a Monsanto Hall of Chemistry (which was later replaced by the Monsanto Journey Through Inner Space, one of the "free" rides back in the days of E-tickets).

Another new thing: Pins. I don't know how long these have been around, but they are kind of fun. Kids, and probably adults too, buy some of the pins and trade them around. I'm not a trader, so we just bought a few special ones we liked and kept them. One cool thing, though: I picked up a couple with the Venerable Uncle Walt, one a picture of him, the other a depiction of him in a statue. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find either easily at the pin website so I can't show you easily (UPDATE: the second pin, not the one Alex signed, has the statue seen in this video at 1:00 minute in, but listen to the whole thing). Maybe I'll take a picture later. But here's a cool thing:

Yesterday, we got on the monorail for a ride, in the very last car. The fella sharing the car with us (and his family, of course) was looking at our sashes of pins. I mentioned how much I liked the one I got of Walt. Turns out, he designed it. He's a Disney designer, and he signed the back of my pin. How cool. Unfortunately, not all of his designs are listed on that page (but the plastic house is) and not this one. But it's cool nonetheless.

Well, that's all for tonight. More details tomorrow, maybe, including the Great Truck Fire on the Grapevine Adventure. Well, actually, that one's easily disposed of. We were heading south up the Grapevine on Saturday. Between Lebec and the summit, a fuel truck in front of us started smoking, then pulled over to the side with flames coming out from under the engine compartment. We called 911 and I kept checking the rearview mirror for giant fireballs and/or smoke columns, but fortunately didn't see any. I need to check the CHP logs, but I assume the driver escaped unharmed.

Okay, really, that's all for tonight. Maybe more tomorrow, possibly including pictures. Because Tomorrow's Just a Dream Away.

Just flew in from SoCal...

...and boy are my arms tired.

Actually, drove back today, and boy is my butt tired. Trip report soon.

Going quiet for a bit

See you in a few days.

A small tribute to Bill Haley

I've posted lots of vids from the '5s and '60s and such. I don't think I've posted anything from the great Bill Haley, though. Too bad.

I could have seen him in concert, I suppose, he died in 1981. Weird thing about that is that I went to an oldies concert (with a very lovely school chum gal who, strangely, deigned to be seen in public with me) in about 1975, with a "Bill Haley and the Comets" retro band, by which I assumed that the Bill-ster himself had already passed away. Since at the time, the Internet was in its "not yet born" phase, I had no way to look it up easily, so I assumed it was so. Apparently, not so. At least, not for a few years after that concert.

Anyway, here are a few Bill Haley vids:

His most famous:


One that was played for years after the Loma Prieta quake:


And his earliest (so far as I know):

Quote of the day

From the lovely Kate P.:

It's like Magnadoodle with jell-o shots!

Too moving for words

From my lovely buddy Julie.

The video.

The transcript.

Julie, my beautiful and lovely friend, thank you. You rock, babe.

DUDE!

DUDE!

End Game

[This is a repost of an old post from 'Pints as a nod to Ricki's fine FTFO to the Nanny Bubble Wrap State]

Another Motivational Poster, inspired by THS, Emily, and the fine folks pinheads in New York.



UPDATE: I didn't notice before that the whole picture doesn't show up, so click on it to see the whole thing.

Hah!

Can't remember just why, but sometime back I went a-youtubin' for "Ragg Mopp" from the "Beany and Cecil" cartoons. Couldn't find it then. Found it now:



One of the great kids' shows, right up there with "Rocky and Bullwinkle".

MORE: Happened on this too:

"Heavens!"

"To Betsy!"

"Men, first we land on Pismo Beachnik, set foot on Mort Soil, go past Lenny Sprucetree, through the Greenwitch Village, keep moving right on past the Kingston Tree-o, then we head for the wilds of Wildsville."

Running this one again

Not long ago, I sent this vid to a friend. Then I got to thinking about how I actually saw all these guys mentioned in the song in real time. Many in person at Dodger Stadium, the rest at least on TV. And many of them were my boyhood sports heroes.

Sandy Koufax
Don Drysdale
Maury Wills
Jimmy Gilliam
The Brothers Davis, Willie and Tommy
Ron Fairly
Frank Howard

And some favorites not mentioned in this particular song:

Jim Lefebvre
Don Sutton
Claude Osteen
Manny Mota

Damn, I miss those guys.

The vid:

Blast from the past

Posted ages ago at 'Pints. But DAMN it's still funny.

DUDE!

DUDE!

Out with the old, in with the new

So we bought a new stereo system this weekend. Pretty inexpensive, really. I'm setting it up tonight.

The old one served its purpose, but it was time to let it go. We bought it about 25 years ago, nice system with a good turntable and cassette player/recorder. Right before CDs killed vinyl and cassettes.

New system has a CD changer and cassette player/recorder (not that I have anything else to listen to cassettes on). Also an iPod docking station, on the chance that we ever break down and get an iPod.

No turntable, though, we'll get that at Costco here soon, to be able to turn our old vinyl into mp3 and CDs.

Happy Birthday, America

Just going to repeat a post from a few years ago:

I have no great insights or grand prose to give you this Independence Day. I can't do any better than giving you a repeat of my Patriotic Band Nerd:



and a repeat of a most eloquent quote by Benjamin Harrison, which more than any other I have ever read captures the solemnity and gravity of the signing of the Declaration of Indepencence:

I shall have a great advantage over you, Mr. Gerry, when we are all hung for what we are now doing. From the size and weight of my body I shall die in a few minutes, but from the lightness of your body you will dance in the air an hour or two before you are dead.

Happy Birthday, America. And many more.

And to all our military personnel serving everywhere in the world, our sincerest thanks and all our support. We owe you, in the words of a grand document, "our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor". You have never failed us; I only hope we will not fail you.

For our buddy Wolfwalker

Another special post, because he has a lot of good information.

This post is specifically a question on the old blackpowder arms.

As near as I can tell from the literature, the difference in designation between the "Army" and "Navy" names on the mid-19th century Colt's revolvers is in the first, or perhaps primary, caliber in which they were manufactured.

Specifically, the "Navy" designations (1851 and 1861 and possibly more) were in .36 caliber. That is, in fact, the actual caliber of the one blackpowder replica revolver (an 1851 Navy style) that I own (so far). The "Army" designations (1860 and others) are in .44 caliber for the front loaders, and larger for the cartridge revolvers (1873 and later).

Now, it is true that the Navy revolvers (as in that other post) were also manufactured in .44, and the Army and Police models were built in .44 and .36 (also .38) calibers. But I suspect that the primary designation of Army or Navy was based on the originally intended caliber for the model. And I suspect that the calibers chosen were because of weight requirements on land as opposed to onboard ship (meaning land could accomodate a greater weight per shot than ships could). But of course, this is all speculation on my part, and I'd love to hear some better information from folks in the know.

Even if those folks might (God forbid) be sheep-molester Bingley.

And apropos of that other post again...

Sadly, I learn from a distant relative (actually, not a relative but related to a relative) some very sad news. Confirmed by independent sources.

It hurts to say this, and I wish I could hide it below the fold but there ain't not fold here. So I'll just say it and let the chips fall where they may.

It turns out that, through my GGGG-grandfather Jessie Robinette, I am distantly related to ...

Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.

I'm so ashamed.

UPDATE: OTOH, there is a fair bet, though not yet proven, that I am also distantly related to Abe Lincoln. I can live with that one.

So...

... continuing my current (read: this week) obsession with True Grit, I was sitting here drinking a Bloody Mary (tomorrow starts a holiday weekend, so I mixed one up) and I clicked over to again watch that clip.

And then I wondered...

Anyone out there read the book? Reason I ask is that in this clip in the movie, Rooster uses a .45 (or a .44-40, either is a good bet) Colt Peacemaker and Winchester carbine (looks to my eyes to be a Model 92, but I think it's supposed to be a Model 73, given what is supposed to be the timeframe). In any case, said carbine has a large fingerloop on the lever, the idea being rather obviously stolen from this TV show, so that he could flip it around to chamber a new cartridge one-handed.

But the book was a bit more historically accurate. So my question to you, dear readers, is this:

In the book, what weapons did Rooster wield on his charge through Ned Pepper's gang?

And yet another celebrity death

Been a rough couple of weeks.

Oscar-winning actor Karl Malden dead at 97

LOS ANGELES – Karl Malden, the Academy Award-winning actor whose intelligent characterizations on stage, screen and television made him a star despite his plain looks, died Wednesday, his family said. He was 97.

His best role, in my humble opinion, was this one.

Apropos those last two posts

Yeah, I'm not too creative in the blogging juices recently. Been to busy at work and such. Been in contact with relatives I haven't been in contact with for some time. Sending some home movies to Melody, with whom I had a great chat a few days ago.

But tonight, I just ordered up a beer or three and sank into some youtubin' True Grit goodness. I'd forgotten this particular exchange, the timing on the delivery is impeccable:

Who's the best marshall they have?

Bill Waters is the best tracker. [chuckle] The meanest one is Rooster Cogburn, a pitiless man, double tough, fear doesn't enter into his thinking. I'd have say that L. T. Quinn is the straightest, he brings his prisoners in alive...

Where would I find this Rooster?

Reference.

UPDATE: A little more since WW commented:

Mr. Rat, I have a writ here says you're to stop eating Chin Lee's cornmeal forthwith. Now, it's a rat writ, writ for a rat, and this is lawful service of same. ,,, See? Doesn't pay any attention to me.

BLAM!

Another reference.

"Hooray for the man from Texas!"

"Some bully shot!"

Okay, yes, it was the second greatest line in movie history*, but it's one of the GREATEST exchanges in movie history. Unfortunately, that vid I posted below ended before the culmination of the scene. Which was way cool.

Here is some more of it. If you ever get a chance to see this movie in its entirety, take it.



UPDATE: I'd forgotten this exchange:

"Dammit. That Texan, when you need him he's dead."

"I ain't dead yet, you bushwhacker! Hang on."

[...]

"That Texan. Saved my neck twice. Once after he was dead."

You need to see this movie.

AND MORE:

"We can't leave him like this."

"I'm the one leaving him like this, but if we don't get you to a doctor you'll be deader than he is."

"Little Blackie can't carry us both."

"He'll have to, he's all I could catch."

MORE UPDATE: HAHAHA! Couldn't pass this one up:

"Poor child, she does not know how ill she really is."

"Well, lawyer J. Nobel Daggett, ar you a betting man?"

"On occasion."

"All of this and General Price that Baby Sis makes it back to Yell (sp?) County."

"Oh no. No sir."

Do listen to the whole clip. And to this:

"Well, come and see a fat, old man sometime!"

*Yes, this excludes the Great and Powerful Casablanca. There is too much too cool about that one. But perhaps I will embed some of its coolness sometime.

Second greatest movie line in history

"Fill your hand, you son of a bitch!"



The SINGLE GREATEST MOVIE LINE OF ALL TIME appears not to be currently available on Youtube. For now. But one can always hope. It's from THE GREATEST VOICE IN HISTORY:

"Forgive me for the men I have killed. And those I am about to."

Random observation, apropros of nothing

I really need to teach my nephew to drink decent beer. Seriously.

While I was at the ranch this past weekend, said nephew had bought some "beer". He's a poor, struggling college student and had to go the cheap route, so I shall forgive him this one time. But only this one time. Because in his defense, his Dad told him to grab some cheap stuff. Which he did. In spades.

Now, on a warm day when you're doing lots of manual labor, nothing quenches a thirst like a beer. But since the nephew happened to purchase this vile crap, I had to make do with spring water and Wild Turkey. Not your standard thirst quencher, but it had to do in a pinch until I could get to the store and buy some decent stuff.

[sigh] Life is so hard.

On the upside, for Father's Day, Little Bro the Firefighter got this from his wife and kids. And we watched it. I even stayed up until the end (which was several hours past my normal bedtime).

Very excellent, I highly recommend it.

The Iranian situation

What can we (the U.S.) do to help the opposition?

Send lawyers, guns, and money.

All that and a bag of chips!

The Swillers have been having some server issues. They seem to be up and running now, but the suave and talented Mr. B send along this item for me to post in his absence. His title and commentary, as it would appear if posted there:

How Come He’s Frito-Lay...

... but she’s not?

"A woman pleaded no contest last week to prostitution charges, accused of agreeing to be paid for services with a box of chips by a man who said he was a Frito-Lay employee.

Lahoma Sue Smith, 36, was ordered to pay a fine of $1,142 in municipal court from charges from a February arrest.

… Smith was arrested on complaints of prostitution and suspicion of driving with a suspended license. The man was not arrested.

[End of Mr. Bingley's commentary]

Me again. Oh yeah, she's all that and a bag of chips:

Notice to the FTC

I have accepted absolutely no money for any of my product endorsements.

That's mainly because the manufacturers have offered me none. Cheap bastards.

However, I am perfectly willing to whore myself out to write product endorsements for vast sums of cash. On which I will, of course, pay no taxes unless nominated to a cabinet post.

Uh oh

Hide the women and children!

Whoa, coolness

So I was sitting here drinking some beer and poking around at Ancestry.com. Unfortunately, I haven't had time (nor, honestly, inclination) to learn how to upload stuff to their new type of tree. To be quite brutal, I don't too much like them, those "public member trees". Too hard to navigate efficiently.

BUT...

They do have the advantage over the old style of allowing members to upload pictures. And this evening, for the first time, I searched through said pictures. AND HIT SOME FREAKIN' PAYDIRT!

Found some of Uncle Chum, his wife Dodie, and his daughter Melody. Very cool. Sometime I may tell the story of visiting Uncle Chum back in the day (irk - I think I put the wrong year in the message I sent to the owner of the pictures!) Chum died in 1982, and his daughter Melody moved into the old home place with her family. I visited her in 2002, shortly after Mom died. I told her who I was and she said, "Yep, you favor [my Dad] some." Well, actually, that's paraphrased from an old joke but she definitely said something to that effect. We had a nice chat before I rolled on down the highway. But that's another story for another time. BTW, if you've read my posts about Uncle Danny the Jockey, she's the one who still has Danny's silks.

Back

And relaxed, despite the work. And a wee bit way fucking pissed off.

Went to the ranch for Sunday and Monday. Repair work to do (I thought I'd blogged it before, but I can't find it so I guess not, though I know I mentioned it some years ago at 'Pints).

A few years back, shortly after Mom died, I went to the ranch for dove season. Very hot weather. I turned on the cooler. Next morning, I found the ceiling in the back room dripping. The drain from the cooler was plugged and it overflowed.

So fast forward to this year. On my recent visit in April I discovered that the spot that had been leaked on some years before had fallen. BUT - once again, Little Bro the Firefighter to the rescue. He and his two boys, plus a friend of one, trucked up there this week for to do some drywalling. And naturally, I needed to see the crew so I trucked up there too for a couple of days for to do some manual labor. I don't do drywall, but I can certainly stand there and hand tools to the guy that can (also, truth be told, embarrassing as it is for a manly, DIY guy like me, part of my job was to take Younger Nephew and his friend out hunting to keep them occupied while Little Bro and Older Nephew did the skilled work; it's a dirty job but somebody's got to do it).

As of the time I left to get home, the new sheet was up in the ceiling, most of the mudding was done, and Little Bro and the Crew are going to spend a few more days there while I head back to work, pallin' around and doing the last of the mudding and painting and stuff. Them, I mean, doing the pallin' around and stuff. I'm just working.

And a good time was had by all.

Well, except for one minor detail. There is one thing going on about which I am absolutely livid. As is the Little Bro. And other dear family members. Can't say anything about it here, for fear of blowing out the synapses of Blogspot. And for anybody who visits the FFOT, you know that even the FFOT GOD VAL has not yet blown out Blogspots synapses, nor even sent it offline. Suffice to say, I'm angry enough to make even Val blush.

'Nuff said.

Spamalot

As mentioned here.

One word review: Excellent.

Aw jeez

I got side-tracked last night in my search for Steve Goodman. So I started doing it again tonight.

And I learned that Steve died of leukemia in 1984, at the age of 36. FUCK THAT. Leukemia can FOAD.

So I was even more determined to post some Steve Goodman tonight.

One of his most famous compositions, made famous by Arlo Guthrie, this is a more recent treatment:



Another composition, popularized by David Allen Coe:



One of my all time favorites:



And another fave, this being the specific one I started this whole search thing for:



Rest easy, Steve. We love you.

That's Un-American!

Hitting him from behind while he's taking a whiz? That's Un-American!

Fortunately, Alan York is British. Also, the guy he whapped is a vile thug. So it's cool.

And yes, this is just an interim post before my next, I was listening to the audio book while running out to get some sammiches.

Tim Blair delenda est

Lousy, feckin' Aussies. Those rotten Southern Hemisphereans did this to me.

Steve Goodman popped into my head this evening, so I went a youtubin' for some. Haven't gotten there yet. That goofy search function there came up with a suggestion as I was typing and I couldn't resist clicking on it.

Lousy, feckin' Aussies. They put this gawdawfulmotherfeckin' earworm in my head.



I blame Tim Blair. Go ahead and click on it, if you dare. But don't say I didn't warn you. And then go poke Tim with a sharp stick.

Gonna take a lot of Steve Goodman to drive that little piece of nonsense out of my head.

Your laugh of the day

So yesterday, I think it was, I saw in one of my email news updates that The Prez swatted a fly during a TV interview. It was a video link so I didn't look at it, only thought "So bleepin' what?" Turns out, The Prez actually killed the fly barehanded and said "I got the sucker."

[sigh] If only he would turn that marvelous, vicious, boneexoskeleton-crushing attitude on our nation's enemies. [/sigh]

Anyway, in the Laughs Department, our goofy friends at PETA apparently have their undies in a wad about it.

PETA attack Barack Obama for fly killing

PEOPLE for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is upset with Barack Obama killing a fly during a televised interview - and are sending him a parcel to prove it.

PETA is sending President Barack Obama a Katcha Bug Humane Bug Catcher, a device that allows users to trap a house fly and then release it outside.

"We support compassion even for the most curious, smallest and least sympathetic animals," PETA 'Tard-in-Chiefspokesman Bruce Friedrich said Wednesday. "We believe that people, where they can be compassionate, should be, for all animals."

What about the plants, you filthy kingdomist pig?

Well, there were lots of stories linked in Yahoo News, all had pretty mundane headlines on the actual stories like this one. But the headlines in the Yahoo search were outstanding:

PETA to Obama: Why'd You Kill That Fly?
PETA wishes Obama hadn't swatted that fly
PETA chastise Obama for murdering fly
PETA pesters Obama for murdering fly
Obama the fly-killer riles PETA

Heh. Screen cap:

And apropos of that last post...

Here is what I mean about the "throwback" mentioned. Not my favorite of his songs, but the video that best shows off the suit and tie. And the writhing chicks. Writhing chicks are always good.

But unfortunately, embedding is disabled. So you'll have to click through to see it. Damned fascist embedding-disablers.

And sadly, I just learned that he passed away a few years ago. RIP, dude.

That promised repost

This is it. For the setup, go back and look at this post. These guys are playing surfer music in the early 1960s. They are wearing ties. And matching jackets and slacks. And they look good.

Hey, I'm the first to admit that I'm not a sartorial giant. Hell, I typically wear jeans to work. It's an informal, biotech atmosphere (I have stories about wearing ties to work, but that's another post for another day). Still, I do like the idea of dressing for work. Especially if it's in an industry in which image contributes greatly to the bottom line. And so, since you have already looked back at that last post (you have, haven't you?), here is my repost. Links are left as in the original, though some of them are dead:

To expand on a theme and segue into a rant

To pick up and run with an idea expounded here by Ricki and Julie, I think it is true that Rock 'n' Roll, and popular music in general, have really lost the good voices. The rockers and crooners of the '50s and '60s did know how to sing, while the later generations, to a great extent, did not.

But another idea has bounced around my head for many years now, and to a degree it ties in with Brian's post here. That post has morphed into a fun repository of great lines from "WKRP in Cincinnati", to which you should go immediately and add your favorites. But after you finish reading this post.
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Anyway, the way it ties in is from this exchange, which goes (as best I can recall) as follows:

Johnny: So you guys play punk rock.

Blood: No, we play hoodlum rock. It's several notches below punk rock.

Johnny: What's the difference?

Blood: Well, for one thing, punk rockers dress deplorably

Well, sad to say, it's not just punk rockers who dress deplorably.

STRANGE INTERLUDE ABOUT PUNK ROCK: Back when I was kid, I didn't understand why construction workers wanted to beat up people (hippies) simply because of how they looked. Then punk rock came around, and suddenly I understood. Too bad Sid Vicious died on his own before I could kick his ass.

Where was I? Oh yeah, rockers dressing deplorably. It's true. This post has been bouncing around my poor little synapses for a while, but I was inspired to go ahead and write it by my searching the 'net to put together this post, as well as the discussions here and here.

When I went looking for Buddy Holly material to trigger trivia questions, I was (not for the first time) struck by how well the rockers of the '50s dressed. This was true of all the greats from the '50s and early '60s, no matter how odd their onstage antics. It even held into the mid '60s.

Sadly, something was lost during the "Summer of F***ing Our Drug-addled Brains Out", and rockers and pop singers in general began dressing deplorably. Worse, their sartorial slovenliness slopped over into other areas. Where once Country/Western and Bluegrass musicians dressed well, more slovenliness has crept in and settled.

Somewhere, something was lost. I'd like to see it come back. I know, there are a few throwbacks to the nicer styles (I might know of more examples if I followed current music more closely) but by and large it seems that popular music has been sartorially castrated.

I think it's kind of a shame.

Well this sucks

Bob Bogle of rock band The Ventures dies at 75

I may have to do some youtubin' later. UPDATE: I did, indeed, do a bit of youtubin'. Per Jeff's request, here is "Hawaii Five-O" (full length, single version):



An opening credits version is here, but embedding is disabled. And here is my personal favorite from the Ventures:



Another Update: Okay, this may be a bit off topic and out of line, but I was struck by how closely the moves in the "Walk, Don't Run" video resemble these:



And it also reminds me to repost a very apropos post from 'Pints. Expect it soon, if I don't forget.

I think it's an early 60s thing.

Another reason for Bingley to hate me

Besides the Tom Lehrer thing.

So we saw Daughter Number Two off from undergraduate studies to graduate school. And a good time was had by all. Lots of pictures taken, lots of hugs and kisses, dinner at Cattlemen's, and then off to drop Daughter Number One at the airport. The dear gal passed on her own graduation from graduate studies (not yet completed, but she and her classmates in the Master's program finishing over the summer actually had their ceremony this weekend) to be with family for her little sister's graduation. Upon hearing which, DNT said, "Why did you do THAT?" What a pair of great kiddos.

Today, DNT and her significant other are off to Southern California for to visit friends and family and to go to a Dodger game tomorrow, and Disneyland with her big sis later in the week. And then trekking back north for next weekend, whereupon she and her significant other, and her insignificant parents (that would be The Sainted Bride and yours truly) will trek off to the World's Largest Outdoor Lunatic Asylum to attend a Saturday matinee of...

[drum roll, please]

This.

Envy us. And Bingley will, no doubt, hate me all the more.