What is it about nice people that attract total idiots?Nice people are martyrs. Idiots are evangelists.

SOCK IT TO ME BABY!!!

Friday, April 29, 2022

M10 Show week 22

 

So this week, I've been doing a good deal of research, because we are having a song go to #1 in the M10 in just its second week on the ten!  Because of this, I did an as-fast-as-I-could-reconnoiter of how often that happened on the Cashbox charts during Martin Era 2.0 ( for rookies, the debut of Rock Around The Clock in '55 to the debut of How Deep Is Your Love in '77).  There is one butt-load of songs that did the feat throughout the M10- and a handful of them spent their first week in the top ten at the top.


Elvis:  Lemmee guess, the Beatles did it the most...

'Fraid so, Big Buddy! Now the M10 has managed it, in 347 weeks, 16 times including this one- or close to every 22 weeks.  In the 1,167 weeks of the ME2.0, Cashbox had it happen 75 times, for an average of about every 15 1/2 weeks.  Of course this total was totally skewed by the 347 weeks (same as the M10) from January 6, 1962 to August 31 of 1968- a period in which the CB chart had it happen 38 times, or once every 9 weeks and change!  Outside of that, CB only had it happen once every 22 weeks- same as the M10!


That's all turrbly fascinatin', but can we get to some music?

 

Sure, Buddy!  Go on and queue up our lone debut this week...

Okey-doke, here at #9 is new stuff from Beach Bunny...

 

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All right, so one thing Elvis mentioned is that some acts were better at this than others... the Beatles, to no great surprise, did it 13 times, including three times a song spent that first top ten week at #1.  Elvis, here, did it 5 times, with 2 that started at the top.  The Four Seasons notched three times, and the Monkees twice.


On the subject of spending that first week at the top, here's who managed that, from closest in to farthest out:

The Marcels, Blue Moon, from #11

The Four Seasons, Sherry; The Beatles, Let It Be; and KC and the Sunshine Band, Get Down Tonight, all from #12

Elvis, All Shook Up, from #13

The Tokens, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, from #14

Frankie Avalon, Venus, from #15

David Seville, The Chipmunk Song, and Napoleon XIV, They're Coming To Take Me Away!, both from #20

The Beatles, Hey Jude, from #38

And tied for the biggest jump- from #47-

Elvis, Are You Lonesome Tonight

and The Beatles, I Want To Hold Your Hand!


Well, at least I tied 'em in somethin'!

Now, how about you share with the readers the M10 songs that have managed the feat here?

Sure thing!

In chronological order, M10 style...

Phoenix, Lisztomania

Beach House, The Traveller

Sunset Pickups, Nightlight

Alvvays, Archie Marry Me 

The Joy Formidable, Liana

Radiation City, Come And Go

The Shacks and El Michaels Affair, Strange Boy

Foxygen, Follow The Leader

courtship., Sunroof

Foster The People, Sit Next To Me

Caroline Rose, More Of The Same

Albert Hammond, Jr, Set To Attack

Home Free w/ Don McLean, American Pie

Redspencer, Happy

Besach House again, ESP

and this week's... which I better not say just yet...

Good call!  I'll just note that six of those are in our all time top twenty... and then, let you in on the M10 for this week! At...

Hey, waitaminit!

What?

Whutabout the rest of my songs that were on yer list?

 Oh, I thought this was so boring...

Not the parts about me!

All right, after I give the M10, I'll tell you what else Mr Presley over there had...

10- it must be over for the Cactus Blossoms- their 8 week journey with Is It Over? ends up falling 5 to #10.

8- also dropping, this time 4 spots, Daisy Glaze and the Ghost Of Elvis Presley.

7- Weezer stuck in place with Garden Of Eden.

6- Tears For Fears up 3 with The Tipping Point.

5- and up 5 for Melody's Echo Chamber and Alma.

4- slipping a notch due to that new #1 is April March and Rolla Rolla.

3- again, Melody's Echo Chamber, slipping one with Looking Backwards.

2- last week's #1, Sunflower Bean and Who Put You Up To This?

And that new #1- fresh off its debut last week at #6....




....Brooke Annibale and What If You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And now, by unpopular demand, here are the other tunes that Elvis hit #1 with in their second top ten week...

Love Me Tender

Stuck On You

and Suspicious Minds.

Yes!  Go King, Go King...

Seriously, dude?

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

Wednesday Bible Study: What Jesus asked, part 14

 


Our next question, and that which surrounds us, is very simple, but answers a lot about how God treats, as they say, "the just and the unjust."

"O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"

Now our tale begins right after Herod was tricked into executing John the Baptist.  Jesus, apparently overcome by the emotion, withdraws to 'a desolate place.'  People who trusted Him, knew Him, might have allowed Him His moment of peace.  But the crowd, eager to see Him perform 'circus tricks', or perhaps, to see if this emotion would lead Him to make the move of kingship over Israel,  followed Him even there.  Compassionate, He taught and healed, and at the end of the day...

Mat 14:15  Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves."
Mat 14:16  But Jesus said, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat."
Mat 14:17  They said to him, "We have only five loaves here and two fish."
Mat 14:18  And he said, "Bring them here to me."

And He took the matter into His own hands, as God the provider for all men...

Mat 14:20  And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.
Mat 14:21  And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. 



No dividing line between the faithful and the curious; ALL were satisfied.  Now, I'm going to jump ahead of the story, to set the contrast.  Next morning, after an eventful crossing of the sea....

Mat 14:34  And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret.
Mat 14:35  And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent around to all that region and brought to him all who were sick
Mat 14:36  and implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.


Get the difference between the two crowds?  This crowd had faith- that they could merely touch Him and be well.   You don't do that with a mere 'faith healer'; these people recognized He was something more, and to them, very personal miracles of healing were made available.


But again, these were people having come to Him, not as a ringmaster, but as God.  Now, what happens when the thought of Him being 'just a man' gets in the way?  We return to the fields where the 5,000+ were fed.  He sends the crowds home, and the Disciples, after gathering a basket each of food fragments, across the sea, while He finally goes off to have His alone time with the Father.


When evening came, he was there alone,
Mat 14:24  but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them.
Mat 14:25  And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.
Mat 14:26  But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, "It is a ghost!" and they cried out in fear.
Mat 14:27  But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid."
Mat 14:28  And Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water."


Point #1- v26:  Because they couldn't get Jesus the Man out of their minds, they couldn't comprehend His abilities as God, and figured they were seeing a ghost.  If the lesson being taught wasn't so important, and the danger from the storm so real, this would be a cartoon-level funny moment.

Point #2- v28: Now, not unlike the pharisees, they demand a sign.  Familiarity and the crisis combine to rob them of the faith needed for a miracle... almost...


Mat 14:29  He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.
Mat 14:30  But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me."
Mat 14:31  Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"



Point #3-v29: With Faith, Peter was able to do the miraculous!  But...

Point #4- v30: ...he let circumstances evaporate that faith.

Point#5 -v29: He had to go back to the start of faith: "Lord, save me!" His lack of faith shifted him immediately from the miraculous influence of Christ right back to where he was before they met.


My Proverbs reading for the day I typed this out included:

Pro 24:10  If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. 


The evil, who think God's actions to the believer are "their imagination", "coincidence", or "chemicals triggered in the brain", are still provided for in the basics of this world.  Those who have genuine faith trust all and receive reward, whether this life or the next.  But when the waves rock the boat, how strong is our faith?

Monday, April 25, 2022

2022 A to Z Mashup part 2

 

#AtoZChallenge 2022 tribute badge

So here we go with part two of this year's April Mashup.  If you missed part one, go here.

M is for MANUFACTURER

It was supposed to be "main", but Google can't handle finding facts about 'main' instead of "Maine".  Anyway, experts estimate we will need to create 4 million manufacturing jobs by 2030, on top of the 12.66 million as of this March.  That is an increase of 24%- whereas the population is supposed to increase only 7.5%.  The site I found went on to say, "... and 2.1 million are expected to go unfilled if we do not inspire more people to pursue modern manufacturing careers."  There is something about "inspiring" someone to work in a factory that amuses me...


N is for NATURE

I was proved wise in using the random word generator to give me three choices this time, because otherwise I wouldn't have known that owls don't have eye'balls'...they have, for want of a better term, tubes.  And since tubes don't swivel, that's why they have that amazing neck-turning capacity.

Frontiers | What Drives Bird Vision? Bill Control and Predator Detection  Overshadow Flight | Neuroscience

O is for OPPOSED

Yes, RWG gave me a lot of crappy words, but therein lies the challenge.  I found a plethora of experiments on the subject of "Facts don't change opinions".  One of which I really enjoyed, I'll sum up as follows.  Step one, the group is given a set of logic problems to solve.  Step two, they were then asked to explain their answers, and change them as needed.  About 15% modified those answers.  Step three was the trick- they were given both their own responses and someone else's to answer- BUT, they were told the answer that was theirs was not, and vice versa.


Results?  Only about half of them caught on to the game.  Of the half that were fooled, 60% disagreed with their own answers that they thought belonged to someone else.  I have an ex-wife these researchers woulda loved.


P is for PILLS

And according to Google, and despite the evidence of my daily med dispenser, there is only one pill- THE Pill.  So here's one about THE pill.  It is made from a (presumably formerly) wild yam from Mexico whose name translates as, "Black Head".  So presumably you could disguise your order of 'the pill' by claiming it was pimple medicine....


Q is for QUANTITY

When is a hundred not a hundred?  When it is 120.  Huh? The word hundred comes from the Old Norse 'hundrath', which roughly means 'long hundred'.   So what the heck did they use for hundred, and why are we depending on Thor to count large numbers anyway?


"Have a care, varlet..."

R is for ROOMBA


The kids got us a Roomba last Christmas, and a couple weeks ago Laurie finally had KC show her how to work it.  Shortly thereafter, while inebriated, I asked her to show me how to use it.  Tonight as I type this, I used it for the first time.  For vacuuming, I give it a B+.  For scaring Misty, a solid C (I may have told her, "Look out, it's gonna get you"...). Ease of emptying, B.  But as for the doggie hair I tried to clean from around its surfaces... I may have to give it a tail and cut my losses.


And maybe a couple of floppy ears...

S is for SEIZE


Google really had fun with my first random word choice here- Seize.  It gave me choices of geese, siege (like as in Waco), the Suez canal, and John Hancock.  John Hancock?  Yes, and here's how, from Constitutioncenter.org...

4. John Hancock, smuggler? Well, he may have been an importer, too, but goods like tea that arrived in New England on Hancock’s ships may have escaped paying a duty. The suspicions led the British to seize Hancock’s ship, Liberty, which started a riot. John Adams got Hancock off the hook from the smuggling charges.

 So according to Google, Hancock was smuggling geese through the Suez canal, heading for Waco, when he was beseiged by the British, which caused John Adams to seize up.  Because it was his duty, I guess.


T is for TABLET

I thought I might get something similar to pill, silly me, I got the ubiquitous (Hey, spelled it right the first time without looking!) computer tablets, and among their 12 Interesting facts about them, I found several facts that explain why I don't have one...

Tablet acquisition rises with age with the 25-54-year age group accounting for the maximum number of users.  And I'm turning 60 in mere days, so I blew the age demographic.

49% of adult tablet users have a college degree and 55% earn more than $75,000 a year.  So while technically I can squeeze in the 49%, the 55% leaves me in the dust.

In 2012, an average tablet user spent $359 on buying products online. See my picture in the Webster's under cheapskate.

 

 There are 126 million tablet users in the world which is expected to reach 150 million by the end of 2013. (Yes, old article).  And somebody has to be among the 7.02 BILLION people who in 2013 didn't have one.  Which means the odds were like 49 to one I wouldn't have one.

 

 

U is for UNCLE

I was curious about where we get the word uncle. Like lotsa other words, we borrowed it from the French, who got it cheap from Latin.  The Latin word was Avunculus, which was understood as, 'maternal uncle', but literally meant "little grandfather". First appearing in print about 1290 in a collection of legends of southern England with “To hi vncle he gan go . . Erchebischop of caunterburi,”, which of course made me think perhaps they were referencing Canterbury Tales, but that came out (allegedly) some 90 years later.  But, at least you now know that people have been saying, "Bob's your vncle" for at least 730 years.


V is for VIABLE

This, surprisingly, led me to the oldest viable seeds on record to germinate with man's assistance.  The story goes thusly: In 1965, excavators at the site of Herod The Great's palace found a jar of seeds to a date palm tree that had gone extinct, or nearly so, somewhere in the 1500's.  So naturally, they sat on them for 40 years until someone got the bright idea to see if they might grow.  That picture of reliability, radiocarbon dating, pinned them as being produced about the same time Mary produced Jesus, give or take about 150 years one way and 70 the other.  In 2005, scientists got the seeds to sprout, and a Judean date palm tree, named Methuselah, planted way down south in the point of Israel, as of 2020 was still thriving and was almost 12 ft tall.


W is for WASH

This one stands for itself...

In Ancient Rome, there used to be an entire job description devoted to collecting urine, heating it up with water, and stomp on soaked clothes.

And you wanted to go back in time...

 

X is for XYSTUS

X really baffles the random engines.  The one I'd been using would only give me x-ray. The next one would only give me xylophone.  Excuse me, but I can come up with more than that on a bad day, people.  This one, though, I had no idea, so I thought I'd go with it.  THIS is a Xystus:

 Xystus | Article about Xystus by The Free Dictionary

A long portico with a polished floor.  Not sure why the monkey on the bottom left is there, though.


Y is for YARDS

"Lawns trap about 12 million tons of dust annually." Hey, Laurie, I have an idea to cut down on the housework!  I'll need a wheelbarrow, some fill dirt...


And at last...

Z is for ZONES

A delightful article about time zones can be found here , if you want to damage your sanity trying to make sense of some of these.  (I challenge you to go read the part about China!) But if tying your brain in a pretzel isn't your cuppa, try this simpler one on for size...


Amongst many things the Second World War messed up, one of them was the time zones between the UK and the rest of Europe. France, Holland, Luxembourg and Belgium were all originally in the same time zone as the UK, but Germany changed their time to match the German zone (one hour ahead of the UK) during their occupation of those countries during the war. Meanwhile, Spanish dictator Franco changed the time to an hour ahead in Spain too. This would explain why Portugal is the same time zone as the UK, despite being in the same actual place as Spain.

 

So of all the things the nations of Europe set back to normal after the war, THIS they left alone.  Go figure.

Saturday, April 23, 2022

Emptying the camera

 Some snaps at various times in the last week...




Feeder's open... all the usual suspects are back...

Doggie photobombing the flowers







Having memories of that little rise... Scrappy's favorite place to hunt groundhogs.




The rest are from this morning...




Trying to catch the ducks flying off the duck pond.  Not only did I miss them, the camera wasn't awake yet.

There, that's better.  Still no ducks, though.



More memories here.  Our first fox, the baby groundhog, the shady little trees.  Yay progress.


Hmm... a race going on...


Early turtle gets the... sun, I guess.

A little more explanation... thus I learned it was a 5K run/walk.  $25 to enter something we just did, lol!

The carnival stuff was from "Big Mastodon Night" last night...




Blackbird Breakfast Club

Right about here, we heard someones stereo blasting Dancing In The Moonlight...

Doggie not impressed by daffodils

Killdeer, either




"I am a Cardinal- I do NOT pose!"


Friday, April 22, 2022

M10 show week 21

 


Well, I'm back in the pink of health this week, and we have three debuts this time around!  And, of course, a "puff" of something extra...

Elvis:  Woah, Boss, I don't know as I like the sound of that...

Oh, don't worry Big Buddy, my days of that stuff are long since over.  HOWever, since I do the actual chart on Wednesday, and Wednesday WAS 4-20- the National Marijuana Day, I thought we might venture into the music end of things- maybe not the way you'd expect...

You sound like you was already sniffin' the stuff...

Well, here's what I mean.  There's a LOT of songs that do, or might, reference the 'whacky weed', from right out front with it (Brewer and Shipley's One Toke Over The Line), to ones that surely mention it- but the artist says, "you're taking me wrong" (Dylan's Rainy Day Women #s 12 and 35), to ones that seemingly have nothing to do with it, but by artist admission (The Beatles' Got To Get You Into My Life, according to McCartney) or performance (Rick James singing Mary Jane with two life sized joints dancing next to him), and of course the special category of artists KNOWN for MJ (Willie Nelson, Tom Petty).  But what I had in mind was taking songs that were at #1 ON 4-20... and kinda making them 'fit the narratives'.  What I got was some very interesting 'matches', from one hilariously perfect match to some reeeeeeeal stretches, and I will start sharing them... right after our first debut.  King?

Uh, yeah,lemme just say I had nothing ta do with all this...

So you think...

...yeah, and so our first debut at #10 gives this'n two songs on the countdown.  Here's Melody's Echo Chamber....

 

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That was pretty neat... she shore likes that animation stuff, though..

 Indeed.  So let me start with the song which charted exactly "week ending 4-20" that is the biggest stretch, and we'll work our way up to the best match... you're gonna love it!

I'm getting a bad feeling about this...

The #1 on 4-20 back in 1968 was...

...Bobby Goldsboro's Honey!

I got this'n!  So sappy ya hadda be high to listen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I doubt everyone would agree... I bet our old friend Shady would, though!

The next biggest stretch, to me, would be the one at #1 on 4-20 in 1974...


 


...MFSB with TSOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The way I get to this one is through the acronyms... we all have heard that for polite society, MFSB meant Mother Father Sister Brother, and to the remainder of the music world it meant... something else.  So why can't we come up with something other than The Sound Of Philadelphia for TSOP?

Like mebbee, The Smell O' Pot?

Perfect!  We'll go with that!  All right, give us that second debut!

All righty!  At #9 is the title cut from the new Tears For Fears lp....

 

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Not bad for a couple o' old guys...

You do know that BOTH of them were born just one year before ME... right?

Um, I do now...

 

Next on my 420 list is kind of a special- from that one short stretch that Billboard and Cashbox weren't releasing the same day of the week, Billboard got an extra all to itself!  From 1959's 4-20...

 


 ... The Fleetwoods and Come Softly To Me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would venture to say that soft, dreamy feeling was what I enjoyed the most about the weed back in the day...

Yeah, Ah'll just bet...

No, seriously!  You could just sort of drift away on music like this, so peaceful... of course, I got much the same effect from the instrumental parts of Neil Young and Crazy Horse's much-less-peaceful Down By The River...

Wasn't that about him shooting his 'old lady'?

Uh, yeah, something like that... The penultimate song on our list...

Whut in tarnantion is Penna.. pennu... that word?

 

"Next to last..."

Ah.  Gotcha.

...comes from 4-20 of 1963....


... the Chiffons and He's So Fine...

How is ya hookin' that up?

Well, how about George Harrison got sued for stealing this melody for his hit My Sweet Lord. And if you can't link George Harrison with Marijuana...

Yep, ah'll give ya that'n!

So now, you got that last debut to announce....

Got it!  All'a way up at #6, Beauty Contest winner Brooke Annibale's latest...

 

 

 

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 That'n will be #1 in no time, I bet!

I won't argue there... but now, give us the rest of the M10!


Sure thing! 

8- an' down from #3, Duran Duran an' Laughing Boy...

7- an' up 3, Weezer an' Garden Of Eden...

5- an' down 3, Cactus Blossoms an' Is It Over?

4- an' up 2, Daisy Glaze an' Ghost Of yers truly...

3- an' up 4 , April March an' Rolla Rolla...

2- an' up 2 fer Melody's Echo Chamber an' Looking Backwards..

An' #1 for a second straight week...

 

 


 ...Sunflower Bean an' Who Put You Up To This!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


All right, sit back and get ready to enjoy this, because the top, the most perfect of #1s on 4-20 for 4-20 is....



...are you ready?


Yes! Fer pity's sake, whut is it????

 

From 1957....



...You even look stoned!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


AW NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!