Whole lotta pimpin' goin' on!

First off, I pimp myself, as I have had my very first guest post!  It was on the site Dribble, run by my Australian friend, Mynx.  You should check it out, as it is kind of a Kid Stuff Part Two (and you guys remember what fun THAT was!), and it will give you a chance to snoop around  Mynx's place, which is full of fun, life, and great artwork-in-progress.  (And, if you feel a bit naughty, she's got another blog you can find from there for the literati with a little time on their imagination.) Plus, a lot of the cool kids hang out there, too, so check it out!  (Thus, I kill two pimps with one paragraph.)

Second, I can't help but laugh at how a certain subject has come up in a very short time on TWO of the blogs I follow.  First, we had a treatise on the English language and its offshoot, Likespeak, over at Waiting For God.  Not long thereafter, we get a humorous look at Likespeak's effect on the relatively normal mind over at The 4th Frog Blog.  Any of y'all that enjoyed either on should stop by the other;  the rest of you should stop by both and get the best of both worlds.  Since I'm in a pimping way, I recommend both places as A+ to hang out at.

Moving on to more of a rant, I got this story through Chuck Shepard's News Of The Weird, but this is one of those that is more rant-inducing than funny to me.  For those allergic to clicking links, here's the nutshell.  NYPD cop claims shoulder problem, retires on disability.  Someone finds out he has a construction job.  Pension shut off, told to return to work.  Police physical shows cocaine in his system, and he is eventually fired.  Cop sues the city, saying that they had no right to suspend his pension without a hearing before the pension board.  The parole board is one-half city officials, one-half union.  Show of hands for guessing what happens next?  That's right, the board deadlocks, and thus the pension is supposed to be re-instated.  In a rare show of actual intelligence, city officials are still refusing to pay this travesty.

I know that there are some of you out there that I gain no love from when I attack unions.  Once upon a time, unions were there for a reason, a good reason.  Now, unions only exist to keep sorry ass frauds like this guy on the job and put money into the coffers of the Democratic party candidate with the brownest nose.  When pro-union people start showing me examples of when they actually boot some low-life POS from their organization instead of suing for his back-pay, I'll lay off.  I don't think I'll be holding my breath.  When I become King of this country, I guarantee that unemployment will momentarily spike when all those Congressmen and their staffs, all those Wall Street money-manipulators, and every member of Labor management I can track down will be beating the streets.  I will shortly alleviate this with jobs digging graves for convicted murderers, rapists, and child molesters, and replacement workers for all the illegal aliens who'll get a one-way ticket home.  And that, my friends, is likely why you'll never see me on the throne (at least, THAT one).

More fun with scammers

Two more semi-original contestants on "Who's Dumber: Scammer Edition" today.  I've got to give our first contestant some real props for weaving current events into the storyline,

Dear Friend

I am Dr John C. Williams, a member of the Emergency MedicalVolunteers team
(doctors without borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières MSF),attached to the
3rd infantry division of the African Union peace keeping forcethat was
deployed in Libyaat the beginning of the recent hostilities. My medical
team was the first toarrive at the scene where the Libyan leader Muamar
Gaddafi's youngest son Saifal-Arab Gadhafi and 3 of his grand sons were
killed in a NATO air strike in Babal-Aziziya compound in Tripolion May 1st
2011.Please visit this web site for true confirmation.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13251570Upon our arrival at the scene,
dead bodies were been taken away by the Libyanauthorities who later
granted us access to rescue operation. During our intensesearch for
possible survivors at the scene we discovered among other things, acache
of silver box stashed with millions of US dollars. We did not report
thisbut cautiously we took the box ourselves to a safe location where we
had theopportunity of opening it to discover that the amount in the box is
TwelveMillion US dollar (US$12M). In line with our terms and condition of
service, weare not allowed to have cash on us wile on duty, so we did not
take out a dimefrom the box. After that, we took the box to one of the
western diplomaticmission and secretly deposited it there as our personal
medical effects. Myreason for writing you therefore is to ask you to
assist me in receiving andkeeping this money safe under your personal
custody in your country pending mytime off from duty and my arrival there.
Upon your acceptance to assist me, weshall discuss your percentage and I
shall give you my phone number, togetherwith a break down on how the money
can be moved from here to your place. Pleasebear in mind that there are no
risks what-so-ever involved in this becauseutmost precautionary measures
was applied in this regard. For our safety herein Libya, kindly treat
matter as top secret while expecting your promptresponse via this e-mail
address.


( j-williams83@hotmail.com )


Kind Regards,
Dr John C. Williams


Wow, twelve mill in cash hidden in Libya, and Qaddafiduck's men forgot to grab it before those inquisitive scamps from DWB absconded with it.  I'd certainly try to keep it secret by enlisting a random person by e-mail to help me.  They actually did good spelling this time, but the 18 times their space bar failed them indicates to me that they might want to sift through the ruins and survivors for a new keyboard.

Our next contestant had a lot of trouble with his spellcheck after running it through the Yoruba-to English Google Translator.  You'll note that this from a division of Interpol ( a fact you are told nine time by my count), and that, unlike a lot of scam mails, here you are informed that you have already been scammed for "closer a lot of thousands dollars before".  Damn, what an idiot I was! Rather than pick it apart, let me just highlight the flowing eloquence(with my comments underscored):

FROM INTERNATIONAL INTERPOL POLICE FORCE UNIT.

RC-32657, HEATTHROW INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT COMMAND,
BENIN REPUBLIC.


Chief Hon, Inspector General Eric Johnson
Inspector General of fraud International Interpol Police Force Unity.
FROM INTERNATIONAL INTERPOL POLICE FORCE UNIT.
BENIN: +229_93_725_927
(INTERPOL)


E-mail;( interpolpolice1@moso.in.th)


CONTACT INTERPOL POLICE NOW


Chief Hon, Inspector General Eric Johnson
Telephone: +229_93_725_927
Email address:( inspectorgeneralericjohnson@yahoo.in)


Attention:
This notification email is coming to you from Benin Interpol Command and please immediately you receive this message do let us know by calling because we need to carry on with this importer’s work accordingly,(And we all know how much work Interpol does for Beninian importers!)
We are written to let you know that we have three gentlemen arrested in the Western Union yesterday name Robert Oleo and Good luck Brown anode of them came from Nigeria and through our investigation we discovered your email address from them which proof that they have scammed you before, The fact that one of them made us clear that they scammed you out of closer a lot of thousands dollars before.
Please we don't have much thing with you for now as you can see we are very busy but all we need from you to sundown your home address and your phone number and you count very well how amount you have loose under scammer’s down here in Africa because first thing tomorrow morning we will lead them to court and from the court they will be charge to jail. (Not really sure how to sundown an address, but whatever can put these ne'erdowells in charge to jail is fine with me.)
So you we mail us back now with this needed details if you don't know the exactly amount you have spent to Benin and Nigeria under scammer's control then you just tell us that you don't know the amount so that court will charge the Countries how much they will pay you as you are scammers then you will have compensation. (Actually, you mean, as I am the scam-ee, right?)Please all we need is the truth and if you never spend just make us clear.
We wait to have the details from yours soon as you get this mail. On whatever happen to Court we will let you know. you can reach us on this line any time,+229_93_725_927 please don’t forward this email to any person from Africa to avid them use itto do their bad work on the name of West Africa Interpol Service please. (I'm confused here; am I trying to prevent scammers from giving Interpol a bad name?)




Chief Hon, Inspector General Eric Johnson
Inspector General of fraud International Interpol Police Force Unity.
FROM INTERNATIONAL INTERPOL POLICE FORCE UNIT.
BENIN: +229_93_725_927


Thanks,
God Bless
You
Mr.John Mark
(and two questions here;  Interpol signing letters, "God bless you"- really?; and after all this stuff from CIG Eric Johnson, who the heck is Mr. John Mark?  The Interpol chaplain?)

So there you have it- one from the well-respected Dr. John C. Williams, although it was sent by one "bayo dada" and headered "message from dayo"; and one from the Honorable CIG Eric Johnson, sent by the blessed Mr. John Mark.  The choice is yours.

Step into my time machine week sixty-four

Well, children, it's July 15th, 1976.  It is hot and muggy, and at around 4:30pm we're gonna get poured on.  Jimmy Carter will accept the Democratic nomination for president today in Atlanta, and in Westbury, NY, Joe Satriani will come into the world.  And these are the songs that were hot then- because this is the Time Machine.  Not a Delorean, as Bob G. likes to say, but in my mind, more like Dr. Who's phone booth, but bigger with nice seats.  Today, we visit a band formed at a Marine base, we watch Jethro Bodine direct a movie, we connect a porn star with a wealthy heiress, and get a new top dog.  Enough to make it worth your trip?  I think so- it is free, after all.  Let's go!

A bad day for debuts and birthdays- (unless you're Joe Satriani) - The only noteworthy birthday is CCR's Sweet Hitchhiker turning 40 this week.  And debuts? We have seven.  Three worth mentioning.  And two of them have been this way before.  The only "real" debut is Earth Wind And Fire with one of my faves, Getaway, at 92.  At ninety-five, Bobby Gentry's Ode To Billy Joe re-enters for its 15th week, on the strength of the new Ode To Billy Joe movie that's come out, starring Robby Benson and directed by Max Baer, Jr.- yes, that's Jethro of the Beverly Hillbillies.  And at 92, Atlantic records has decided that now that EVERYONE knows who Daryl Hall and John Oates are thanks to Sara Smile (which, BTW, is our grandpa song at 23 weeks and just exiting the top 40, and was actually PROMOTED by their new record company, RCA), they'll re-release She's Gone, which got only to 52 in it's 10-week attempt two years ago.  Nothing like striking when someone else can do your work for you, huh?

A sluggish big mover week too- Silver climbs 18 to 74 with Wham Bam Shang A Lang.  The droppers were a different story, though.  Four songs dropped 22 notches this week, and they're all in a cluster. Get Up And Boogie falls to 40, Marvin Gaye's I Want You tumbles to 42, the aforementioned Sara Smile to 44, and Love Hangover to 45.  Also, while 41 was a climber, #43 dropped 19 (not the 21 I told Laurie last night, after I thought about the mathematical impossibility and re-figured).  That was, BTW, America's Today Is The Day.

Graciously, Todd Rundgren moves up off the #49 spot this week and gives us a new where are they now victim- Henry Gross, who slips into the honor spot with the dropping Shannon.  Henry was a founder of Sha-Na-Na right outta high school, but left soon after to start a solo career.  Despite an ever growing list of regional hits, he never got the big break until Shannon- and despite constantly recording since, never had another big hit.  These days, he's just released two new CDs , called Right As Rain and Rhymes And Misdemeanors.  He's also contributed songs to a fellow old timer, Johnathon Edwards (remember Sunshine Go Away Today?), and is releasing them on his own Zelda Records, named after his mom.  He claims they are his best work ever on his website ( of course, he also claims he's a jackass for not regularly updating the website, too, so it's all a matter of perspective).

An almost but not quite shout out this week to Cyndi Grecco for her one hit, the Laverne And Shirley theme Making Our Dreams Come True, which slips to 34 after peaking at 21 last time out.  This song, like the Happy Days theme, was written by Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox- veteran writers who'd already hit with such classics as Sergio Mendes' The Girl From Ipanema and Roberta Flack's Killing Me Softly With His Song.  This time, though, they had zero information to go on, according to Fox- all they knew was their names and that they would be blue collar workers (Unlike the Happy Days deal, this show was only in works, and the pilot hadn't been filmed yet).  So they set to work on the concept of two girls who had a dream and were working and hoping to make it come true- even if the writers had no clue what it was.  So they came up with the song "Hoping Our Dreams Will Come True"- which the producers rejected.  "No, these girls won't just sit back and hope.  They're the kind that will go out and take the bull by the horns and wrestle it."  So Norman re-wrote the lyrical dynamic into MAKING the dream come true, and a song was born.  And finished it before the producers had stumbled onto the bright idea that it might work better if the show didn't use their last names in the title (which they did, apparently, in the pilot).

At least we had some debut action in the top forty- five songs came onto Airplay Alley.  At 38, Chicago entered with Another Rainy Day In New York City, up 5.  The second cut from Frampton Comes Alive! enters the 40 at 37 this week- Baby I Love Your Way, up nine.  A 15 notch climber comes in at 36- Wild Cherry and Play That Funky Music.  At 35, up 7, is Candi Staton with Young Hearts Run Free.  And this week's high debut is the Bee Gees' You Should Be Dancing (yeah), going up 12 to #29.

Our look at the top dogs of yesteryear is in the threes this week.  In 1993 was the entirely forgettable Weak by SWV, which stood for Sisters With Voices.  Now there's a unique qualification for a singing act.  1983 this week was headed by the Police's classic Every Breath You Take.  In 1973, we have a Billy Preston song for the second straight week on this feature- this time it's Will It Go 'Round In Circles.  Making a donut, I skip to 1953 where we find Eddie Fisher, who's just replaced previous honoree Percy Faith's Moulin Rouge Theme with I'm Walking Behind You.  No, he's not being a butt-man, he's referring to his daughter and her upcoming wedding.  Back to 1963 we go to find a band put together by Marines at Camp LeJune, NC- The Essex, with Easier Said Than Done.  The lead singer, fellow Marine Anita Humes, died just over a year ago- May 30th of last year- at the age of 69.

Three songs enter the top ten this week, three drop out.  Falling are Silly Love Songs, from 4 to 11; Misty Blue, from 8 to 15; and Shop Around, from 9 to 16. Oh and before I forget (which I already had), the number one album this week is still Wings At The Speed Of Sound.

First up in the top ten is the big hit for Thin Lizzy, The Boys Are Back In Town, climbing three to #10.  Steve Miller climbs a spot to 9 with Take The Money And Run.  Coming in at #8, up 3, are the Brothers Johnson with I'll Be Good To You.  The high debut comes from the Beatles, still weaving their magic with Got To Get You Into My Life climbing from 12 to 7.  John Travolta edges up a notch with Let Her In at 6. Moonlight Feels Right moves into the top 5 for Starbuck, also up one spot.  Continuing the trend is Gary Wright, who moves up that spot to #4 with Love Is Alive.

Speaking of trends, ever since I decided to graft the six degrees special to the highest song that's lost the bullet, I've gotten lots of repeat offenders.  Well, Silly Love Songs finally fell, so of course, Afternoon Delight just had to do the same thing.  Which means that yet again we go to the second-highest song without ammunition, which is Andrea True's More More More at #3 for a second week.  Now, we already discussed Andrea's former (and future) occupation in an earlier TM, as well as the fateful trip to Jamaica where a coup forced her to make some money to get home.  This is where she called good friend Gregg Diamond, a record producer, who came down with the song that she recorded to pay her way.  Gregg became later known for producing a disco studio group called Bionic Boogie, which featured the lead singing talents of Luther Vandross.  He had met Luther through Gregg's brother Godfrey, who was a soundman when Luther was working with David Bowie on his Young Americans lp.  In addition to singing, Luther had come up with the backup vocal arrangement, which included the riff "I heard the news today, oh boy" taken from the Beatles' A Day In The Life.  That part of that song was written by John Lennon, who was also involved in the Young Americans lp, particularly on the song Fame.  Anyway, John had based the opening part of the song ("He blew his mind out in a car/he hadn't noticed that the lights had changed") on the tragic accident that killed 21-year old Tara Browne.  The young socialite was the son of one of the famous "Golden Guinness" heiresses, Ernest Guiness' youngest daughter Oonagh (pronounced "ooo-na"). This would be the third child of her to meet a sad end- a son had died months after birth, and a daughter died as a 14-year-old from a reaction to Diptheria vaccine.  So there you have it- porn star Andrea True to Gregg Diamond to Luther Vandross to David Bowie to John Lennon to Tara Browne to heiress Oonagh Guinness.

Which brings us to the top two, and since I already announced we'd have a new top dog, that means Afternoon Delight and the Starland Vocal Band slip to the runner up spot.  Which also means our new top dog is.....

... the Manhattans, with Kiss And Say Goodbye!!!

Another good week in the books. Have a good weekend!

Blame Canada!

Now before I get a bunch of warmly dressed people jumping on my butt, let me explain the title of this here blog post.  Y'see, what with CBG and Tracy over at Average Girl, I've been learning a lot about our neighbors to the north.  But never so much as I did when an American friend of ours sent this e-mail to us about actual billboards from Canada.  I would have just put the whole thing on here, but since blogger and outlook express can't get along enough to let me do this any way but piece by piece, here are the highlights:

And last but not least, my two favorites.  Our runner-up:

And our champion- one I'd not be surprised if Tracy put up herself:

Now THAT'S an extreeeeeeme hazard!

Yet another era ends

Otto von Hapsburg, died on July 4th.  For the long version of who this fascinating man was, look here.  The short version, he was the man who would have been Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary for the past 89 years, if there was still a Kingdom of Hungary or Empire of Austria.  He would have been coronated in 1922- and because of that, bad things happened:  supporters were butchered by Nazis, possessions were expropriated without appeal, for decades he was a man without a state.  And because of that, good things happened- he worked tirelessly for the unity of Europe, even when the Iron Curtain stood between him and his goal.

Here are some exerpts from a very good article by Michael Shields of Reuters:

It was he who spawned the joke in which an aide asks if he had seen the Austria-Hungary football match the night before.

The deadpan reply: "No, whom were we playing?"
_________________________________________

"He died peacefully with his family present," a man who identified himself as a grandson said by telephone from Poecking, on Lake Starnberg in southern Germany, where Habsburg had lived since 1954 during a life spent mostly in exile.


__________________________________________

He helped arrange a "Pan-European Picnic" on the Austro-Hungarian border in 1989 which led to a brief opening of the Iron Curtain dividing capitalist West from communist eastern Europe, fostering the movement that would lead to the fall of the Berlin Wall a few months later.


_____________________________________________

His coffin will remain for three days in a church in Poecking, followed by requiem services in Munich, Vienna, Budapest and elsewhere, his website said. http://www.ottovonhabsburg.org

He is expected to be buried at the imperial crypt in Vienna, where dozens of his ancestors lie, after a funeral at St. Stephen's cathedral on July 16, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn told the Kathpress news agency.
The Habsburgs sometimes bury the hearts of their dead separately. A spokeswoman for the family secretariat in Hungary said his heart would interred in the Abbey of Pannonhalma, in western Hungary.

Former Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel called him "a great Austrian patriot" who "incorporated pan-European thinking like no other and articulated this already at a time when a dark shadow hung over the continent."
European Commission President Manuel Barroso hailed him as "a great European...who gave an important impetus to the European project throughout his rich life."


________________________________________________________

Otto was a fascinating man; perhaps even more so than his twice-great-grand-uncle, Francis Joseph, the second to last Emperor, and perhaps not so tragic as Francis Joseph's son Rudolph, whose death, along with Franz Ferdinand's, allowed Otto's father to be the last sitting Hapsburg ruler.  Austria's history has always had a magnetic pull on me- and it's late palladin is no exeption.  Rest in peace, your highness.

______________________________

Just so y'all don't miss it, the cap blog features a tale of my youth at the end of the latest post- a tale of a town that formed a big part of the first 3 decades of my life.  Check it out, on the "boards 8-9 " post.

He Who Has Ears, Let Him Hear

This was the phrase that stuck with me in the morning message, along with the observation about Christ using it many times in His ministry.  As I always seem to get the most from a message when I latch onto some one thing and break it down, I researched the phrase.  I found it in a limited number of places, always said by Jesus, and in a very specific order with only two instances repeated for emphasis.  I t seemed that these instances provided an "if" followed by the phrase, to wit:

"If you want to believe.."
"If you want to bear fruit..."
"If you want to know why..."
"If you want to share..."
"If you want to deal with your sin..."
"If you want to be a disciple... He who has ears, let him hear."

The first instance (and as usual, I'm not reprinting text, to encourage you to look it up) was in Matt. 11:13-14.  This is where Jesus deals with the prophecy of Malachi 4- the return of Elijah.  But like the other spots we'll visit, it also has two complimentary messages.  The first is in the first line-  "All the Prophets and the Law prophecied UNTIL JOHN (the Baptist)."  The lesson here is, that everything in the Bible from the OT to John  LEADS UP TO this moment in time- when Christ manifest on earth begins His ministry.  AKA all you need to know is in the Bible; and everything in the NT is backed up by everything in the OT.  The second half of the meaning is carried in the second line:  "AND IF YOU ARE WILLING TO RECEIVE IT, he is Elijah who will come."  The complimentary lesson is- you have to be willing to receive it.  Joshua, our friend, often says how he's read the Bible "and knows it as well as I do."  What he never understood, is that he was never willing to receive it.  You need both to move on to the next step.

And the next step comes in Matt13: 4-9. as well as in Mark and Luke- the parable of the sower and the seeds.  First half of this lesson is, you need good soil to bear fruit.  But what constitutes good soil?  It's all right there.  First, you have to get past our first part, being willing to receive it.  If you are unwilling, you are the seed on the wayside.  Second, you have to let it take root.  We've discussed this before.  Read.  Apply.   Listen.  Without this long and constant process, you are doomed to wither.  Third, avoid the thorns- don't let everyday life distract you from the first two.  This was the one lesson important enough to be repeated in all three "synoptic" Gospels.

The next of our stops is just over a bit in Matt 13: 43- the parable of the wheat and the tares, as well as its later explanation.  Jesus answers two of the most asked questions in all Christianity.  First, why does He allow a world so messed up?  Why it's messed up we've covered before.  Why he allows it, according to this, is so not to harm the wheat.  Before you say, "Huh?", consider:  Each person is allowed to reach their ultimate fruit, whether it be good or bad.  To pull bad fruit out before its life is over would remove its chance to become good.  We live just as long as our opportunities to repent hold out.  Once we exhaust all those God-given opportunities, we're done.  You wondered why they say "the good die young?" There you go.  Second, Is there really a judgement/hell/punishment? Yes, and it waits for the end of the age for this very reason.

Next comes Mark 4:23- the light under a bushel passage.  This gives us two lessons.  The first- if we have that light of faith, we are meant to share it.  The second comes from the line that follows- there is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed.  I know I have hidden things, things that corrupt me and makes me less than what I could be.  But I do not delude myself that they are hidden from God.  I confess them- constantly, it seems- and He allows me to deal with them so that I will remain dependant on Him.  Some "ministers of Light" hold these secrets in hope that they'll never be exposed.  But they poison their ministry, and God makes sure that, in the end, they always come out.  So the second lesson is a constant call to repentance- and a warning.

Which brings us to Mark 7:16- That which enters a man does not defile him, only that which comes out of him.  The Disciples didn't get it.  What it is is a lesson on responsibility.  In this morning's message Ed Bousman quoted a missionary who said that he never wanted to return to the USA for fear of losing his soul.  Yes, temptations are everywhere, the more as the Day approaches.  But in the Wheat and tare parable, we saw that God does not intend us to live apart.  Rather, in this passage we should see that the temptation is not the sin- the CHOICE is.  And the choice leads to sins of thought (evil thoughts, adulteries-in the sense of "mixing" doctrines- ,ccovetousness, pride, and foolishness) and deed (fornications, murders, thefts, deceits, licentiousness, the "evil" or roving eye, and blasphemy).  In other words, if we want to deal with our sins, we have to take responsibility for them.  Is it any wonder this world is full of, "it's not my fault, it's the way I was brought up," and "I was born this way"?  To deal with sin, we need to accept that the only way "we were born" was sinful.  Everything else- EVERYTHING ELSE- is a choice.

And the final stop is at Luke 14:33, the salt losing its flavor passage.  Most people have trouble with this for two reasons- a) they don't read the passage prior, and b) they can't figure out how salt can lose it's flavor.  First, look at what goes before- the things that can occur that can disqualify one from being a Disciple.  Now, I'm figuring that while this passage applies at varying levels to all of us, it is specifically directed at those who believe they have a call to ministry.  And it gives a set of rules that need to be in place before you serve.
#1. You have to be willing to put relationships- family, friends, lovers, whatever- on the back burner and make that ministry your focus.
#2. You have to put thought of your own comfort out of your mindset.
#3. You have to impartially count the cost to you of what you intend to do- financial, societal, spiritual, and physical.
#4. You have to look within yourself to see if you have the emotional and physical resources to do the job.
Secondly, if you can't figure it out that way, consider this- a spice is added to food because it is able to stand out from the food and change it for the better.  A spice with no flavor would be like a sprinkle of, say, flour.  If you cannot stand out- and you can't if concerns of friends and family, desire for a comfortable life, a worry over the cost, or inability to hang in there get in the way- then you are no good as a minister.    The higher the commitment you're called to, the more extreme these restrictions become.

So, if you see the title of this piece and say, "Hear what?", here are your answers:

How to believe and receive;
How to bear fruit of that belief;
How to understand why things are the way they are;
How to effectively share your faith;
How to deal with YOUR sin;
How to be a Disciple.

And if you don't wish to hear, that's your right.  Don't listen. A bird will be along shortly.

Three Rivers Festival Time...

Today we made our once-every-three-or-four-year trek to Ft. Wayne's world-famous Three Rivers Festival.  Now we are not big on Junk Food Alley or the midway, but one thing we do like is the flea market.  Being of low disposable income, I can't just latch onto every neat thing that catches my eye- and there are many.  I told Laurie, "I'm looking for the one thing that will stand out-  a lot of things have dealt me glancing blows, but nothing has made me cross the line"- and then, I found this.

This is an original Centlivre Old Crown Bock Bottle from the thirties or forties.  What's left of the label says "Internal Revenue  tax/ Contents 12 fluid oz./ Centlivre Brewing/Fort Wayne" and has the remains of a daemonic-looking goat there between "bock" and the "b" of "beer".  The cap is the same as the two I labelled "generic" over on "Boards 5,6,7" on the cap blog, but blue, and cork lined.  Crown Cap collectors international says the cap was used by "countless beer manufacturers" and Tavern Trove dates it at 1935.  The others I have on Board 6, like the Renner Old Oxford also on board 6, are reproductions of this original.  Unlike the others, this member of the collection is staying on the bottle and being put in a yet-unknown hallowed place.  Cost?  I asked the man, he said, " Umm... three bucks?" I said, "SOLD! Pay the man!"

After maybe an hour there, we crossed the footbridge over Spy Run to... the Old Fort.

This, however neat, was just a pass through point for us, as we crossed the footbridge over the St. Mary's...

...and enterred Headwaters Park, where - for us- the neatest things were the F15 Laurie spotted...

... the little kids playing in the fountains (as well as us, briefly)...

...and the ongoing sidewalk art contest, which featured some really good artists.

Boy, Mynx, I think I got you a new art style to try out!

Anyway, that was TRF '11 for us.  Other than a couple pepsis each (which mine were consumed in about three minutes total) and a 25-cent "honey stick" that has left me with a very annoying scratchy spot in the wayback of my throat.  Now, off to find that Hallowed Spot..