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The KHL playoffs opened today, and I thought perhaps I could make this easier to follow by colloquializing some of these tongue-twisting names, since I am bound and determined to keep boring you with the results.
Half of the league openned today, so let me set up the ones that did not first.
Russian Snow Leopards vs. Petrochemists
Our first pairing is Ak Bars Kazan vs Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk. Kazan is the city for team one- a city so important financially that it is referred to as "Russia's third capital". The "Ak Bars" name means "snow leopards"- one of two teams that have the cat as its symbol. So we'll call them "the Russian snow leopards". Nizhnykamsk is the second city, an oil-processing area that led to the nickname Neftekhimik, or "Petrochemists". So series one will be the Russian snow leopards vs the petrochemists. See, easy!
Vanguard vs. Siberia
Series two matches Avangard Omsk vs Sibir Novosibirsk. Omsk used to be much easier when Jaromir Jagr played here. We just called it Jagr's team. But he's back in the NHL with Dallas, so that's out. The name means "vanguard" so I guess that's what we'll call them now. Sibir is easy to figure out too- it's the largest city in Siberia, and third biggest in Russia. So we'll call this vanguard vs Siberia.
Meteor Guys vs. Kazakh Snow Leopards
Series three has Traktor Cheyabinsk vs Barys Astana. Chelyabinsk became much easier when that meteor decided to blow up all over them. Astana has had about a million names in its history- Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and now Astana, which is kind of a generic name and most people expect (or at least one person expects) it will someday be called Nursultan after Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev (the parliament tried it just recently, but Nazarbayev "turned it down" for now). Now the "Barys" part is Kazakhi for "snow leopards" so this matchup will be the meteor guys vs the Kazakh snow leopards.
Metallurgists vs. SYU
The final of the eastern conference matches pits Metullurg Magnitogorsk against Salavat Yulaev Ufa. Since the other Metallurg team (Novokuznetsk) is making early golf plans, we can just stick with Metallurg for these guys. Salawat Yulaev was a national hero of Bashkiristan who fought in Pugachev's rebellion and for his trouble was captured, whipped in every major battle site, had his nostrils "pulled out", forehead and face branded, and then took a ten-city tour before being put in a prison in present-day Estonia, where he and his father finished their lives more or less. Hmm, let's just call them SYU.
St. Pete vs. Polar Bears
That brings us to the series that started today. First let's look at SKA St. Petersburg vs Atlant Mystichi. SKA means "sports club of the Army," and thus they are like CSKA's little brothers. But that wouldn't be a good name for the odds-on favorites, so let's just call them St. Pete. Atlant, based in the Moscow suburb of Mystichi, has a polar bear for their symbol, so we'll call them the polar bears. Today, they battled through a scoreless 63 1/2 minutes before Patrick Thoreson (the star of the team once again now that the lockouts are back home) put one in for a 1-0 OT win. Atlant only managed 16 shots against Ilya Ezhov, none in the extra period.
Red Army vs. Lions
Series 2 features CSKA and Lev Prague. CSKA is Moscow's Red Army team. Lev is another of the six non-Russian teams (we've already met Barys Astana, from Kazakhstan), from Prague in the Czech Republic. Lev means Lions, so this series is Red Army vs Lions. And Red Army and the Lions went 74 1/2 minutes before Yakov Rylov scored to give the soldiers a 3-2 OT win.
Dynamo vs. Sky-Blues
Series three gives us Dynamo Moscow- think the New York Yankees of Russian hockey- vs Slovan Bratislava, hailing from the capital of Slovakia where they are known as the "Sky Blues". Probably not much of a surprise that the Yankees- er, the Dynamo- blew out the Sky-Blues 5-1 behind a pair of goals and an assist by Jakub Petrusalek.
Railroaders vs. Steelers
And that leaves us our heroes, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, vs Severstal Cherepovets. Severstal is the name of the steel company that sponsors them, so we'll call them the Steelers. Well, the Steelers beat the "railroadmen" 2-1 in game one. Denis Kazionov of the Steelers got a 5+20 game misconduct, inside the first half-minute of the game, and Alexander Kalyuzhny scored on the power play to put us on top- but that was all we got, despite two other Steelers getting 10-minute misconducts along the way, and a 39-penalty minute first period.
Everybody plays again tomorrow, and the eastern teams play again on Friday.
In the meantime, Poland has started its playoffs, Italy has moved into the knock out rounds, while Austria still is mucking about in its "winners stage" (basically a re-seeding of the playoff teams- which is what the regular season was for, I thought). I'll update them as the move along.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Monday, February 18, 2013
Pictures!!!
It may have only been a tease.... and it was a lot of sun, then clouds, windy, then calm.... But here are some pics of what was a pretty nice day (once I got outta work):
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My friend over at Holly's hoots and hollers put up an "ABCs of me" thing. I told her I'd try it, but she might regret it:
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| Actually this one is last week at the far end of Stony Run. |
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| Only way you can get one to sit still is spot him on the OTHER side of the river! |
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| "Where the geese are..." |
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| Listening to the ice clattering in thew waves, sounds like a wind chime... |
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| CRACK!! Oops, crap! |
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| One of those moments the sun was out- the colors were so cool... |
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| This tree shed all its bark over the winter. |
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My friend over at Holly's hoots and hollers put up an "ABCs of me" thing. I told her I'd try it, but she might regret it:
A- Age: 51 in 87 days. Mind about 29, body closing on 76.
B- Bedsize: Queen, I guess. For the chunk Scrappy lets me have, it might as well be a twin.
C- Chore you Hate: Is there one I like?
D- Drink of Choice: Pepsi Cola
E- Essential start to your day item :
the toilet, beyond a doubt.
F- Favorite color: blue
G- Gold or Silver: in what event?
H- Height: 5’4” when gravity's low
I- Instruments I play(ed)- No self respecting instrument would let me near it. The ones without self respect, like tubas and kazoos, I don't persue.
J- Job : After almost 10 years as a fabric cutter using primitive implements, I am now a fabric cutter using a computerized machine that's only about 5 years outdated.
K- Kids: No goats, just a dog. Oh, you mean children. Two of them, a girl and a drunk.
L- Living arrangement: an apartment, Townhouse style, with Laurie, who is the only woman who'd put up with me.
M- Mom’s name: Are you ready? Ursula. A name so difficult (apparently) that when she died, masses were said for her over the next couple months under at least three different misspellings, including Urusual.
N- Nicknames: Keek (Niece couldn't pronounce Chris), Popper (another niece's years-later mutation from Keek) , Tonar (some guy at school who thought I was a space alien), Superman, Underdog, Batman (big into comic books), Monty (my last name somehow metamorphosized).
O- Overnight hospital stay: Couple of years back I had surgery on a calf vein that somehow developed a huge blood clot on the OUTSIDE of the vein. Was off my feet (unassisted) from start of October till Christmas. Still paying those bills.
P- Pet Peeve: Either I have so many I can't distinguish them, or I don't have any.
Q- Quote from a movie: From A Time To Kill: "Yeah, I'm glad I killed them, and I hope they burn in Hell!!"
R- Right or left handed: Right
S- Siblings: Four- brothers 71 and 68, sisters 65 and 61. Yep, I was the youngest by ten years, and I've been an uncle since 5 months old.
T- Time I wake up: 5AM for work, 8-9 when it's up to me.
U- Underwear: clean at least 5 days of a week.
V- Vegetables I dislike: I like to think of myself as a friend of all vegetables. As such, I generally don't eat them.
W- What makes you run late: refer to E.
X- X-rays I’ve had: Leg, lungs, wisdom teeth. Sorry, no broken bones!
Y- Yummy food I make: Depends on whether it has to be yummy to anyone but me.
Z- Zoo favorite: Anyone who bothers to be awake when I'm there.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Sunday Message
One great way to know that the message is from God is when you can't figure it out without His help. And boy was I there this week.
The topic, as I learned, were the things we need to practice before God's greater blessings can help us. And we started out Monday in Genesis 41. This is the chapter were we find Joseph in jail after Potifer's wife lied about him, two years after he interpreted the dreams of his fellow prisoners, the royal cup taster and the royal baker. Joseph was two-for-two on the dreams, and the cup guy promised to say something to Pharoah when he was released. Two years later, Pharoah has his dreams about the lean cows and the scraggly corn, and cup guy says, "Oh, yeah, I forgot I was going to tell you about this guy in jail..."
So Pharoah brings Joseph out of jail, with a chance to stay that way if he can interpret the dream. Now here's the point. Joseph thought that intrepreting cup guy's dream was God's way of getting him out of jail. But two years go by- he could have been sore at God, at cup guy, even at Pharoah since he was in jail for a crime he never had the pleasure of committing. But his gentle answer speaks to the character of the man:
So Joseph answered Pharoah, saying, " It is not in me; God will give Pharoah an answer of peace." (Gen.41:16)
It was that peace and patience that God wanted from Joseph, and as a result, he became second in command of all Egypt.
Tuesday brought me to the unlikely spot of the last chapter of Ezekiel. Here we find a dry going through of how the new earth (after judgement) will be divvied up amongst the twelve tribes. But in verse 9 of Ezekiel 48 we find the story coming to the district set apart for the Lord, and the people who shall inhabit it:
In the center of it will be the sanctuary of the Lord. 11 This will be for the consecrated priests, the Zadokites, who were faithful in serving me and did not go astray as the Levites did when the Israelites went astray. 12 It will be a special gift to them from the sacred portion of the land, a most holy portion, bordering the territory of the Levites.
13 “Alongside the territory of the priests, the Levites will have an allotment 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide. Its total length will be 25,000 cubits and its width 10,000 cubits. 14 They must not sell or exchange any of it. This is the best of the land and must not pass into other hands, because it is holy to the Lord.
So here we have the sons of Zadok being rewarded because they held their ground when everyone else- including their nominal bosses, the Levites- went astray. Patience, then perserverence- and I would need both at the end of our tale.
Wednesday brought us to the first chapter of Esther. And here I knew this was being led by God, because Laurie has been trying the random reading as well, and she had Esther the night before (when I had Ezekiel) and the same chapter in Ezekiel this time! And from Esther we drew the story of Xerxes ( Ahasuerus if you prefer) having a party and sending servants to go fetch Queen Vashti to show her off- and she refused. Now, mind you, this the Great King of all the lands of the earth who just got dissed by his wife, and 99% of the great kings of history would have probably sent her straight to the royal gallows. Verse twelve does say "his anger burned within him."
But that's not what he did. Since it was customary for the king to consult experts in matters of law and justice, he spoke with the wise men who understood the times 14 and were closest to the king—Karshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memukan, the seven nobles of Persia and Media who had special access to the king and were highest in the kingdom.
Instead of giving reign to anger, he consulted the wise counsel of men "who understood the times". Vashti got a new lease on life, though at the cost of her title, and Xerxes not only gained a better wife in Esther, but a fine advisor in her uncle Mordecai. Patience, perseverance, seek wise counsel.
But Thursday became difficult. After flipping to both Numbers and 2 Samuel without finding anything that fit the pattern, I fell upon Acts 2, where Peter was preaching at the first Pentecost.
40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
Jesus talked about the Spirit's conviction in John 16. Somewhere between the "covincing" of one definition and the "criminality" of another, this conviction means that the Spirit, as He did to these men, cuts through to our heart if we let Him, opening us to be truly repentant. So we have patience, perserverance, counsel, and conviction/repentance. But Friday I became stuck again- at least to myself- as I landed back at the same spot in 2 Samuel. I looked at it, and the spot in Numbers, and wondered what I was missing.
The spot was chapter's three and four, with an emphasis on ch. 4 vv 9-12. Herein we find David, shortly after Saul's death, but the civil war went on as Saul's son Ishbosheth carried on his father's kingdom with Abner as his general. But Ish and Abner had a falling out, and Abner "suggested" Ish find a way to reunite with David. Long story short, Abner got killed by the suspicious general Joab, and another group took matters into theit own hands and beheaded Ish. See why I wasn't sure about where this was going?
But what happens is, not only does David curse Joab and memorialize Abner, but check this reaction out:
8 They brought the head of Ish-Bosheth to David at Hebron and said to the king, “Here is the head of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, your enemy, who tried to kill you. This day the Lord has avenged my lord the king against Saul and his offspring.”
9 David answered Rekab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble, 10 when someone told me, ‘Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and put him to death in Ziklag. That was the reward I gave him for his news! 11 How much more—when wicked men have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed—should I not now demand his blood from your hand and rid the earth of you!”
12 So David gave an order to his men, and they killed them.
David could have easily said, "these were evil things that worked out to my good." But he refused to have his ministry (rule) tainted by evil deeds, no matter what the results- or intentions- were. So we add to our list honor and not putting the ends before the means.
But something was still missing, and I couldn't figure out how to get there for the life of me. I had to work Saturday morning (which I really couldn't see the point of), and I decided I would take advantage of wise counsel- listen to a message on the way in. The Message was delivered by Tony Evans, a man I remembered well. You see, on the night after Shenan was born, I took KC up to see his new little sister. On the way home, we listened to a message from Tony, and it stuck with my little 4-year-old compatriot for a long time. Not sure if he still remembers it, but I do. Anyway, he brought up the concept that Church is like a mini heaven because we are to minister to God. In other words, God is to be the AUDIENCE at church, not the other way around. He went on to explain that to hear the Spirit's call for us, we need to be worshipping in church, not just listening, because "Worship is the antenna that we tune the Spirit in with!" And I saw that I was having my problems this week because I was forgetting not one (the wise counsel), but TWO of the things God requires for us to gain His greater blessing, and that second is Worship.
Patience. Perserverance. Counsel. Conviction/repentance. Honor. And Worship makes six things God asks of us for His greater Blessing. And Tony capped it off with a second wise counsel, one which is why I even do this. "The Bible is not sufficient in and of itself. Because it contains all the principles you need, but not the specific application to individual situations. If it did, it would be as big as this room!" It was when I applied the two things I'd been ignoring that this all came together. And I walked into work telling my co-worker, "NOW I know why I'm here today!"
The topic, as I learned, were the things we need to practice before God's greater blessings can help us. And we started out Monday in Genesis 41. This is the chapter were we find Joseph in jail after Potifer's wife lied about him, two years after he interpreted the dreams of his fellow prisoners, the royal cup taster and the royal baker. Joseph was two-for-two on the dreams, and the cup guy promised to say something to Pharoah when he was released. Two years later, Pharoah has his dreams about the lean cows and the scraggly corn, and cup guy says, "Oh, yeah, I forgot I was going to tell you about this guy in jail..."
So Pharoah brings Joseph out of jail, with a chance to stay that way if he can interpret the dream. Now here's the point. Joseph thought that intrepreting cup guy's dream was God's way of getting him out of jail. But two years go by- he could have been sore at God, at cup guy, even at Pharoah since he was in jail for a crime he never had the pleasure of committing. But his gentle answer speaks to the character of the man:
So Joseph answered Pharoah, saying, " It is not in me; God will give Pharoah an answer of peace." (Gen.41:16)
It was that peace and patience that God wanted from Joseph, and as a result, he became second in command of all Egypt.
Tuesday brought me to the unlikely spot of the last chapter of Ezekiel. Here we find a dry going through of how the new earth (after judgement) will be divvied up amongst the twelve tribes. But in verse 9 of Ezekiel 48 we find the story coming to the district set apart for the Lord, and the people who shall inhabit it:
In the center of it will be the sanctuary of the Lord. 11 This will be for the consecrated priests, the Zadokites, who were faithful in serving me and did not go astray as the Levites did when the Israelites went astray. 12 It will be a special gift to them from the sacred portion of the land, a most holy portion, bordering the territory of the Levites.
13 “Alongside the territory of the priests, the Levites will have an allotment 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide. Its total length will be 25,000 cubits and its width 10,000 cubits. 14 They must not sell or exchange any of it. This is the best of the land and must not pass into other hands, because it is holy to the Lord.
So here we have the sons of Zadok being rewarded because they held their ground when everyone else- including their nominal bosses, the Levites- went astray. Patience, then perserverence- and I would need both at the end of our tale.
Wednesday brought us to the first chapter of Esther. And here I knew this was being led by God, because Laurie has been trying the random reading as well, and she had Esther the night before (when I had Ezekiel) and the same chapter in Ezekiel this time! And from Esther we drew the story of Xerxes ( Ahasuerus if you prefer) having a party and sending servants to go fetch Queen Vashti to show her off- and she refused. Now, mind you, this the Great King of all the lands of the earth who just got dissed by his wife, and 99% of the great kings of history would have probably sent her straight to the royal gallows. Verse twelve does say "his anger burned within him."
But that's not what he did. Since it was customary for the king to consult experts in matters of law and justice, he spoke with the wise men who understood the times 14 and were closest to the king—Karshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memukan, the seven nobles of Persia and Media who had special access to the king and were highest in the kingdom.
Instead of giving reign to anger, he consulted the wise counsel of men "who understood the times". Vashti got a new lease on life, though at the cost of her title, and Xerxes not only gained a better wife in Esther, but a fine advisor in her uncle Mordecai. Patience, perseverance, seek wise counsel.
But Thursday became difficult. After flipping to both Numbers and 2 Samuel without finding anything that fit the pattern, I fell upon Acts 2, where Peter was preaching at the first Pentecost.
36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
Jesus talked about the Spirit's conviction in John 16. Somewhere between the "covincing" of one definition and the "criminality" of another, this conviction means that the Spirit, as He did to these men, cuts through to our heart if we let Him, opening us to be truly repentant. So we have patience, perserverance, counsel, and conviction/repentance. But Friday I became stuck again- at least to myself- as I landed back at the same spot in 2 Samuel. I looked at it, and the spot in Numbers, and wondered what I was missing.
The spot was chapter's three and four, with an emphasis on ch. 4 vv 9-12. Herein we find David, shortly after Saul's death, but the civil war went on as Saul's son Ishbosheth carried on his father's kingdom with Abner as his general. But Ish and Abner had a falling out, and Abner "suggested" Ish find a way to reunite with David. Long story short, Abner got killed by the suspicious general Joab, and another group took matters into theit own hands and beheaded Ish. See why I wasn't sure about where this was going?
But what happens is, not only does David curse Joab and memorialize Abner, but check this reaction out:
8 They brought the head of Ish-Bosheth to David at Hebron and said to the king, “Here is the head of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, your enemy, who tried to kill you. This day the Lord has avenged my lord the king against Saul and his offspring.”
9 David answered Rekab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble, 10 when someone told me, ‘Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and put him to death in Ziklag. That was the reward I gave him for his news! 11 How much more—when wicked men have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed—should I not now demand his blood from your hand and rid the earth of you!”
12 So David gave an order to his men, and they killed them.
David could have easily said, "these were evil things that worked out to my good." But he refused to have his ministry (rule) tainted by evil deeds, no matter what the results- or intentions- were. So we add to our list honor and not putting the ends before the means.
But something was still missing, and I couldn't figure out how to get there for the life of me. I had to work Saturday morning (which I really couldn't see the point of), and I decided I would take advantage of wise counsel- listen to a message on the way in. The Message was delivered by Tony Evans, a man I remembered well. You see, on the night after Shenan was born, I took KC up to see his new little sister. On the way home, we listened to a message from Tony, and it stuck with my little 4-year-old compatriot for a long time. Not sure if he still remembers it, but I do. Anyway, he brought up the concept that Church is like a mini heaven because we are to minister to God. In other words, God is to be the AUDIENCE at church, not the other way around. He went on to explain that to hear the Spirit's call for us, we need to be worshipping in church, not just listening, because "Worship is the antenna that we tune the Spirit in with!" And I saw that I was having my problems this week because I was forgetting not one (the wise counsel), but TWO of the things God requires for us to gain His greater blessing, and that second is Worship.
Patience. Perserverance. Counsel. Conviction/repentance. Honor. And Worship makes six things God asks of us for His greater Blessing. And Tony capped it off with a second wise counsel, one which is why I even do this. "The Bible is not sufficient in and of itself. Because it contains all the principles you need, but not the specific application to individual situations. If it did, it would be as big as this room!" It was when I applied the two things I'd been ignoring that this all came together. And I walked into work telling my co-worker, "NOW I know why I'm here today!"
Saturday, February 16, 2013
The meteor falls
I know you've heard the news by now, but let me flesh it in a bit. Yesterday morning a 49 ft, 10 ton meteorite exploded some 18 miles or more above the earth over the Ural area of Russia. Was it bright, you say?
You don't need the whole thing, just scroll up to about the forty-eight second mark. Was it powerful? Check this one out:
Was it fatal? Apparently not, despite almost 50 square miles of window glass being shattered and the Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant being destroyed.
Chelyabinsk news reports that 7200 territorial and another 1300 local police were dispatched to find fragments. Despite over a thousand injuries, only around 500 required hospitalization, many of them for concussions. Later estimates of hospitalized people ran up to 725. NASA reported a yield of 500 kilotons- or about 20 Hiroshimas. And that from an object less than a third of the size of the smallish asteroid that just missed us.
A large hole was blown into the ice of a reservoir near Chebarkul, some fifty miles to the west, but divers were unable to locate any large surviving chunks. The arena at Chelyabinsk, home to KHL hockey team Traktor, was damaged, but it was apparently limited (according to city officials) to non-load bearing walls and they expect the home playoff opener will be okayed when a final report on the damage is released Monday.
Speaking of which, we are closing in on the end of the KHL regular season, and Lokomotiv seems to be limping to the line after only Vitaly Vishnevsky (2) and Alexander Chernikov (9) scoring in a 5-2 home loss to the "other" Metallurg yesterday, with Vitaly Kolesnik managing only 18 saves. Lev Prague grabbed the 7th playoff spot in the west, leaving Dinamo Minsk, Atlant, and Donbass fighting for the last spot tomorrow with Minsk holding a 71-70-70 lead and everybody playing different teams. In the east, Neftekhimik took the last playoff spot yesterday with a 4-1 win over Vityaz.
Lokomotiv will finish second in their division as they faded just as Red Army came on. But 24-17-10 ain't bad for a team that died in a flaming plane crash just a season ago.
You don't need the whole thing, just scroll up to about the forty-eight second mark. Was it powerful? Check this one out:
Was it fatal? Apparently not, despite almost 50 square miles of window glass being shattered and the Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant being destroyed.
A large hole was blown into the ice of a reservoir near Chebarkul, some fifty miles to the west, but divers were unable to locate any large surviving chunks. The arena at Chelyabinsk, home to KHL hockey team Traktor, was damaged, but it was apparently limited (according to city officials) to non-load bearing walls and they expect the home playoff opener will be okayed when a final report on the damage is released Monday.
Speaking of which, we are closing in on the end of the KHL regular season, and Lokomotiv seems to be limping to the line after only Vitaly Vishnevsky (2) and Alexander Chernikov (9) scoring in a 5-2 home loss to the "other" Metallurg yesterday, with Vitaly Kolesnik managing only 18 saves. Lev Prague grabbed the 7th playoff spot in the west, leaving Dinamo Minsk, Atlant, and Donbass fighting for the last spot tomorrow with Minsk holding a 71-70-70 lead and everybody playing different teams. In the east, Neftekhimik took the last playoff spot yesterday with a 4-1 win over Vityaz.
Lokomotiv will finish second in their division as they faded just as Red Army came on. But 24-17-10 ain't bad for a team that died in a flaming plane crash just a season ago.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Time Machine week 55
It's February 15th, 1971. And the biggest news your internet searching will find you about today is that the British went to a decimal monetary system today. You see, they had been on a 1 pound = 20 shillings = 240 pence system for centuries, and would now need hand-calculators to figure out if the Good Humour man was ripping them off or not.
I was going to pitch a bitch about, "How long have you been on the metric system and you're just now coming to decimal currency?" But after turning up a 2004 article on the BBC titled, "Will we ever go completely metric?" I decided, okay, I guess I'm no expert on THAT subject. The biggest laugh of the whole story was when I read that it wasn't even the biggest story on the British front pages that day, but I defy you to find out what WAS.
Welcome to a Valentine's episode of Time Machine, in which I will be sending out Valentines to all my blog ladies, so if you are A) female, and B) comment semi-regularly on this blog, pay attention this week! A Valentine is coming your way! Also, a top 40 debut that wanders into our six degrees, a hot hundred debut that blunders into the birthday song category, and from our lookback special, the song that could not be found! Step lively, correct change, please!
But first, a sad note. Rick Huxley, bassist for the legendary Dave Clark Five, passed on Monday, according to Dave. The 72-year old Huxley is the third of the quintet to pass on, after Dennis Payton in 2006 and lead singer Mike Smith in 2008. I guess that Catch Us If You Can might not be exactly an apropriate eulogy.
So out of 7 debuts to the hot 100 this week, we have two to feature this week. The first, at 82, is Cat Stevens' Wild World; and at 96, Derek and the Dominoes (Eric Clapton and buddies) with Bell Bottom Blues. This song has a long and struggling history on the charts. This original version climbed to #91; and two years later- this week, in fact, making it a 40 year birthday song- it was re-released under Clapton's name, climbing to a lofty 78. Too bad, because as Clapton fans know, it's one of his best.
Speaking of birthdays, here's the rest of this week's bunch! Turning 30 are Styx's Mr. Roboto, After The Fire's Der Kommisar, and Phil Collins' drum-heavy I Don't Care Anymore. Turning 35 we have ELO with Sweet Talkin' Woman and Tavares' version of More Than A Woman off Saturday Night Fever. Joining one incarnation of Bell Bottom Blues at the age of 40 this week are: the Carpenters with Sing, Dobie Gray's classic Drift Away (Remember the Oldies 101.7 ad? " 'Beat, Boys' ? I thought he said, 'Give me the BEACH Boys!' "), Lou Reed's Walk On The Wild Side, and Deep Purple with Woman From Tokyo. Turning 45 we have Sly Stone and the Family with Dance To The Music, and the recently mentioned Troggs with Love Is All Around. Turning 50 is Johnny Cymbal's Mr. Bass Man; and turning 55 are a pair of the all-timers: Little Richard's Good Golly Miss Molly and Chuck Berry's Sweet Little 16. Blow out the candles...
Let's start with the Valentine songs! Now some of these songs might have a meaning for the recipient beyond the title, and some might not (hence we would send my ex-wife along the lines of "What Kind Of Fool Am I" or "Something Stupid"). I hope everyone will enjoy them in the spirit of the holiday. Here's one for the little sweetheart at what's on your mind, Monkey Butt - for you I send out a song that will fit your theme- Smokey and the Miracles with Mickey's Monkey. For my dear friend from up north, Average Girl, who occasionally still posts at it's an average life, how about a song that reflects in title what your stories often leave me doing- the Guess Who and Laughing. For my dear friend Skippy at I make soap , in light of her recent side effects, I send you the Troggs' Wild Thing! My friend Holly over at Holly's hoots and Hollers , I think it pretty apropos to dedicate Sailcat's Motorcycle Mama. And winding up round one, I can't think of anything that would remind me of Jo-Anne at Jo-Anne's Ramblings any better than Bobby Russell's Saturday Morning Confusion. Chocolates to all!
Our big movers are: going down, the former top ten from Led Zep, Immigrant Song, falling 56 spots to 77. Going up, Janis Joplin's Me And Bobby McGee, climbing 21 spots to #49.
The song at #50 this week was a Bobby Sherman tune- and since we've Where-Are-They-Now'd him previously, it's a good thing we have no room for him this week.
Another five Valentines! From my fine blogging and artist friend over at Lizard Happy , I thought it meet to send an Aussie song to an Aussie babe, so how about Little River Band and Help Is On Its Way. For Elsie at Mock Turtle's Musings , I think I would play her Spandau Ballet's True. For Nain from View From Down Here , I have to imagine her husband sing to her Elton John's Your Song. For Ms NK Rey at Waiting for God , in her manse on the banks of the Wabash, I send you the great Andy Williams' Moon River. And for Juli at Surviving Boys , what else could I dedicate but Connie Francis' Where The Boys Are?
7 songs debut into the top 40 as well. Up 3 spots to 40 is someone Laurie and I just listened to not long ago- and who will re-appear in today's six degrees- Emitt Rhodes with Fresh As A Daisy. (No, it was not later used as the Massengil theme!*) Another three-notch climber at 39 are the Kinks with Apeman. An 8-slot climb to 36 belongs to Joe Tex with Jody's Got Your Girl And Gone. The Carpenters leap 13 spots with For All We Know, landing at 35. The Partridge Family shoot up 11 spots to 34 with Doesn't Somebody Want To Be Wanted. There are currently three versions of the Love Story Theme on the charts, but the one in the top 40 right now is Henry Mancini's, climbing 19 spots to 28. And the high debut, up at 27, is Tom Jones, climbing 14 with She's A Lady (Whoa wo wo!!!) * If you don't get the joke, don't worry. I'm just being a douche.
Well, attempt #2 at the new way of doing the lookback ran into a bit of a snag- or two. First, the biggest mover this week in 1951 was someone we've looked at a couple of times already- Guy Lombardo and his merry men with Use Your Imagination. So I went with the second biggest mover, and hit snag #2. When a song hit the charts back then, usually more than one version hit at the same time. So Cashbox would just roll all the versions into one big chart hit. And the song that moved the second most was a tune called May The Good Lord Bless You And Keep You, moving from 33 to 17. Three artists shared this particular charting- opera star Jan Peerce (I think that's "Yan", as it is a guy); Bing Crosby; and the first name on the list, Frankie Laine.
Despite not being a big star on the charts, Laine (originally LoVecchio) had an influence on music far beyond his numbers. A master of many musical styles, he hit the top 3 times- all in a six month span. August of '49 saw him at the top with That Lucky Old Sun; February of 1950 saw him at the top with The Cry Of The Wild Goose; in between was the western classic Mule Train. His signature song was the #3 That's My Desire- the last song he publicly sang, two years before his death in 2007.
At the other end of his 70+ years as a performer, he got a start in his youth in dance marathons. He and partner Ruthie Smith set a world record at 3,501 hours- and he entertained the other contestants with his singing during their 15-minute breaks!
Oh, and the song that brought us here? I found no evidence on Billboard that it charted by any of the three- and in fact, that #17 spot was its peak!
And I have a couple of shoutouts for the almost but not quite list this week! Todd Rundgren peaks this week at 21 with We Gotta Get You A Woman; and Bread at 20 with Let Your Love Go.
One last look in the Valentine mailbag! For Ms CB at the ramblings of Charlie Brown , I thought about the easy joke with the Coasters, but decided instead on something more closer to her lifestyle- Andy Williams again, with Born Free. For the former Chocolate Angel over at three cats and my coffee cup , I thought something from Hot Chocolate- how about You Sexy Thing? For Kelli over at the House of Hale , again I went with something I can see her hubby dedicating to her- the Jackson Five with I'll Be There. And for Holly at the Morrow , and in that same vein, the Association and Cherish.
Two songs join the top ten, two drop out. The droppers are Your Song (10 to 17) and Stoney End (8 to 11).
King Floyd drops from 4 to 10 with Groove Me.
Bobby Goldsboro comes in at 9, up 2 with Watching Scotty Grow.
Diana Ross moves up one spot to 8 with Remember Me.
The Jackson Five rocket from 17 to 7 with Mama's Pearl.
Gladys Knight and company slip a notch to 6 with If I Were Your Woman.
The Bee Gees drop a pair to 5 with Lonely Days.
Dave Edmunds pushes up 2 to #4 with I Hear You Knocking.
Dawn slips another notch to 3 with Knock Three Times.
Which brings us to the six degrees song- Rose Garden, falling from the top to #2.
Rose Garden was written by Joe South, who never charted it. In fact several acts tried and failed to chart before Lynn Anderson, including the 3 Degrees and one Freddy Weller, who spent 6 years as a member of Paul Revere and the Raiders. He was the replacement for original member Drake Levin, who Revere fired right before an appearance on the Ed Sullivan show. Levin wenton to join the previously mentioned Emitt Rhodes (who ever thought he'd get two mentions in one episode?) in a west-coast band called the Merry-Go-Round. Later on, a gent by the name of Rick Dey (No relation to Susan Dey- her birth name was Smith) joined the Merry-Go-Round, after a stint with an outfit called the Wilde Knights. And the Wilde Knights did the original recording of the song Just Like Me- which Paul Revere and the Raiders, pre- Weller, took to #11 in 1965.
And that means we have a new nuber one, but first, I have one more Valentine, for Laurie:
Andrew Gold, and Thank You For Being A Friend....
ANNNNNND now, the new top dog...
The Osmonds, and One Bad Apple!!!!
Hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day!!!! See you next time!
Welcome to a Valentine's episode of Time Machine, in which I will be sending out Valentines to all my blog ladies, so if you are A) female, and B) comment semi-regularly on this blog, pay attention this week! A Valentine is coming your way! Also, a top 40 debut that wanders into our six degrees, a hot hundred debut that blunders into the birthday song category, and from our lookback special, the song that could not be found! Step lively, correct change, please!
But first, a sad note. Rick Huxley, bassist for the legendary Dave Clark Five, passed on Monday, according to Dave. The 72-year old Huxley is the third of the quintet to pass on, after Dennis Payton in 2006 and lead singer Mike Smith in 2008. I guess that Catch Us If You Can might not be exactly an apropriate eulogy.
 |
| Lenny Davidson on the left and Dave Clark in the middle are the DC2 now. |
So out of 7 debuts to the hot 100 this week, we have two to feature this week. The first, at 82, is Cat Stevens' Wild World; and at 96, Derek and the Dominoes (Eric Clapton and buddies) with Bell Bottom Blues. This song has a long and struggling history on the charts. This original version climbed to #91; and two years later- this week, in fact, making it a 40 year birthday song- it was re-released under Clapton's name, climbing to a lofty 78. Too bad, because as Clapton fans know, it's one of his best.
Speaking of birthdays, here's the rest of this week's bunch! Turning 30 are Styx's Mr. Roboto, After The Fire's Der Kommisar, and Phil Collins' drum-heavy I Don't Care Anymore. Turning 35 we have ELO with Sweet Talkin' Woman and Tavares' version of More Than A Woman off Saturday Night Fever. Joining one incarnation of Bell Bottom Blues at the age of 40 this week are: the Carpenters with Sing, Dobie Gray's classic Drift Away (Remember the Oldies 101.7 ad? " 'Beat, Boys' ? I thought he said, 'Give me the BEACH Boys!' "), Lou Reed's Walk On The Wild Side, and Deep Purple with Woman From Tokyo. Turning 45 we have Sly Stone and the Family with Dance To The Music, and the recently mentioned Troggs with Love Is All Around. Turning 50 is Johnny Cymbal's Mr. Bass Man; and turning 55 are a pair of the all-timers: Little Richard's Good Golly Miss Molly and Chuck Berry's Sweet Little 16. Blow out the candles...
Let's start with the Valentine songs! Now some of these songs might have a meaning for the recipient beyond the title, and some might not (hence we would send my ex-wife along the lines of "What Kind Of Fool Am I" or "Something Stupid"). I hope everyone will enjoy them in the spirit of the holiday. Here's one for the little sweetheart at what's on your mind, Monkey Butt - for you I send out a song that will fit your theme- Smokey and the Miracles with Mickey's Monkey. For my dear friend from up north, Average Girl, who occasionally still posts at it's an average life, how about a song that reflects in title what your stories often leave me doing- the Guess Who and Laughing. For my dear friend Skippy at I make soap , in light of her recent side effects, I send you the Troggs' Wild Thing! My friend Holly over at Holly's hoots and Hollers , I think it pretty apropos to dedicate Sailcat's Motorcycle Mama. And winding up round one, I can't think of anything that would remind me of Jo-Anne at Jo-Anne's Ramblings any better than Bobby Russell's Saturday Morning Confusion. Chocolates to all!
Our big movers are: going down, the former top ten from Led Zep, Immigrant Song, falling 56 spots to 77. Going up, Janis Joplin's Me And Bobby McGee, climbing 21 spots to #49.
The song at #50 this week was a Bobby Sherman tune- and since we've Where-Are-They-Now'd him previously, it's a good thing we have no room for him this week.
Another five Valentines! From my fine blogging and artist friend over at Lizard Happy , I thought it meet to send an Aussie song to an Aussie babe, so how about Little River Band and Help Is On Its Way. For Elsie at Mock Turtle's Musings , I think I would play her Spandau Ballet's True. For Nain from View From Down Here , I have to imagine her husband sing to her Elton John's Your Song. For Ms NK Rey at Waiting for God , in her manse on the banks of the Wabash, I send you the great Andy Williams' Moon River. And for Juli at Surviving Boys , what else could I dedicate but Connie Francis' Where The Boys Are?
7 songs debut into the top 40 as well. Up 3 spots to 40 is someone Laurie and I just listened to not long ago- and who will re-appear in today's six degrees- Emitt Rhodes with Fresh As A Daisy. (No, it was not later used as the Massengil theme!*) Another three-notch climber at 39 are the Kinks with Apeman. An 8-slot climb to 36 belongs to Joe Tex with Jody's Got Your Girl And Gone. The Carpenters leap 13 spots with For All We Know, landing at 35. The Partridge Family shoot up 11 spots to 34 with Doesn't Somebody Want To Be Wanted. There are currently three versions of the Love Story Theme on the charts, but the one in the top 40 right now is Henry Mancini's, climbing 19 spots to 28. And the high debut, up at 27, is Tom Jones, climbing 14 with She's A Lady (Whoa wo wo!!!) * If you don't get the joke, don't worry. I'm just being a douche.
Well, attempt #2 at the new way of doing the lookback ran into a bit of a snag- or two. First, the biggest mover this week in 1951 was someone we've looked at a couple of times already- Guy Lombardo and his merry men with Use Your Imagination. So I went with the second biggest mover, and hit snag #2. When a song hit the charts back then, usually more than one version hit at the same time. So Cashbox would just roll all the versions into one big chart hit. And the song that moved the second most was a tune called May The Good Lord Bless You And Keep You, moving from 33 to 17. Three artists shared this particular charting- opera star Jan Peerce (I think that's "Yan", as it is a guy); Bing Crosby; and the first name on the list, Frankie Laine.
Despite not being a big star on the charts, Laine (originally LoVecchio) had an influence on music far beyond his numbers. A master of many musical styles, he hit the top 3 times- all in a six month span. August of '49 saw him at the top with That Lucky Old Sun; February of 1950 saw him at the top with The Cry Of The Wild Goose; in between was the western classic Mule Train. His signature song was the #3 That's My Desire- the last song he publicly sang, two years before his death in 2007.
At the other end of his 70+ years as a performer, he got a start in his youth in dance marathons. He and partner Ruthie Smith set a world record at 3,501 hours- and he entertained the other contestants with his singing during their 15-minute breaks!
Oh, and the song that brought us here? I found no evidence on Billboard that it charted by any of the three- and in fact, that #17 spot was its peak!
And I have a couple of shoutouts for the almost but not quite list this week! Todd Rundgren peaks this week at 21 with We Gotta Get You A Woman; and Bread at 20 with Let Your Love Go.
Two songs join the top ten, two drop out. The droppers are Your Song (10 to 17) and Stoney End (8 to 11).
King Floyd drops from 4 to 10 with Groove Me.
Bobby Goldsboro comes in at 9, up 2 with Watching Scotty Grow.
Diana Ross moves up one spot to 8 with Remember Me.
The Jackson Five rocket from 17 to 7 with Mama's Pearl.
Gladys Knight and company slip a notch to 6 with If I Were Your Woman.
The Bee Gees drop a pair to 5 with Lonely Days.
Dave Edmunds pushes up 2 to #4 with I Hear You Knocking.
Dawn slips another notch to 3 with Knock Three Times.
Which brings us to the six degrees song- Rose Garden, falling from the top to #2.
Rose Garden was written by Joe South, who never charted it. In fact several acts tried and failed to chart before Lynn Anderson, including the 3 Degrees and one Freddy Weller, who spent 6 years as a member of Paul Revere and the Raiders. He was the replacement for original member Drake Levin, who Revere fired right before an appearance on the Ed Sullivan show. Levin wenton to join the previously mentioned Emitt Rhodes (who ever thought he'd get two mentions in one episode?) in a west-coast band called the Merry-Go-Round. Later on, a gent by the name of Rick Dey (No relation to Susan Dey- her birth name was Smith) joined the Merry-Go-Round, after a stint with an outfit called the Wilde Knights. And the Wilde Knights did the original recording of the song Just Like Me- which Paul Revere and the Raiders, pre- Weller, took to #11 in 1965.
And that means we have a new nuber one, but first, I have one more Valentine, for Laurie:
ANNNNNND now, the new top dog...
The Osmonds, and One Bad Apple!!!!
Hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day!!!! See you next time!
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
The stuff I forgot last night...
ITEM: I think this might be the stupidest conclusion in the history of science, and I have proof.
Domestic dogs are much more likely to steal food when they think nobody can see them, suggesting for the first time that dogs are capable of understanding a human's point of view.
Dr Juliane Kaminski, of the University of Portsmouth's Department of Psychology, has shown that when a human forbids a dog from taking food, dogs are four times more likely to disobey in a dark room than a lit room, suggesting they take into account what the human can or cannot see.
Taking this step by step, how does stealing food have anything to do with "understanding human's point of view"? I realize humanity is fallen, but how does a dog being a thief reflect our point of view?
Second step, Of course they can tell when mom or dad aren't paying attention. Just like any other little kid. You need a scientific study to figure this out?
Third, we tested Scrappy. Laurie had a near emptied bowl of potato salad that Scrappy was dying to finish. But see, Scrappy is trained to sit and wait on a treat when told. So Laurie told him, "Sit, " and so he did. And when we turned off all the lights and the TV, he never moved. For half a minute, he kept up a disinterested facade, not budging in the least until given the command, okay.
ITEM: Lokomotiv took to the ice this morning after the week's break for the Oddset tourney in Sweden, and downed Amur 4-1 on a hat trick for Niklaus Hagman, his 10th, 11th, and 12th of the year. Two games remain in the regular season- against Nizhnekamsk (the "other" Metallurg) on Friday and Sibir on Sunday. Three playoff spots remain for the taking.
ITEM: I finally got tired of all the alcohol and substance abuse links thinking that my cap blog is the place to go to pimp their sites, so I clicked on the link to go complain to them. The link took me to Diaperspace, which is made up to look like Facebook (right down to the "It's free and always will be."), only for ABDL (which, I learned to my regret, stands for "adult baby diaper lovers"). These people have a lot worse problems than spamming MY blog, friends.
ITEM: I was thinking about the Papal resignation, and my mind came up with this soliliquy.
1871 was a great year for the office of the Pope and for the Church- although neither the Pope nor the Church saw it that way at the time. Why? Because in 1871 the Prussians and their German Confederation allies whupped the French in a war. You see, the Prussians were using the French as a goad to get the smaller German... Wait a minute, hold the story, because it's going off track. The French defeat meant that the French troops still in Rome had to come home. Why were there French troops in Rome? Because Italy had been in the midst of trying to become a united nation since 1848. It consisted then of the Austrian territories of Lombardy and Venetia, the duchy of Parma, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily (Usually going by the silly name of "the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies")- and the Papal States, a chunk of central Italy ruled by the Pope as a king ever since one Pope forged the "donation of Pepin" saying they ruled the area.
But in 1848, the people rose up in favor of a republic, and the French had to conquer Rome to keep the Pope in power. Those same French were there as most of the rest of Italy was forged into a single unit under the Piedmontese king. And when they left in 1871, the Italian army marched in and deposed the Pope from his temporal rule. The Popes didn't care for that, and it wasn't until a deal was reached in 1929 with Mussolini that the Pope regained an independant nation- albeit a nation 1/72,000th the size it was in 1848.
So how was this good for the popes and the church? Because, without being busy being a king, the succeeding Popes- Leo XIII, Pius X through XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, the two John Pauls, and a pair of Benedicts- the Popes have become Church fathers, leading the flock rather than playing politics. The result being a succession of saintly men the likes of which the Church had never seen. The man stepping down is the latest in a group of holy, humble men who have firmly put the Church's needs ahead of their own. Yep, 1871 was one of the best things that ever happened to the popes- and the church.
Domestic dogs are much more likely to steal food when they think nobody can see them, suggesting for the first time that dogs are capable of understanding a human's point of view.
Dr Juliane Kaminski, of the University of Portsmouth's Department of Psychology, has shown that when a human forbids a dog from taking food, dogs are four times more likely to disobey in a dark room than a lit room, suggesting they take into account what the human can or cannot see.
Taking this step by step, how does stealing food have anything to do with "understanding human's point of view"? I realize humanity is fallen, but how does a dog being a thief reflect our point of view?
Second step, Of course they can tell when mom or dad aren't paying attention. Just like any other little kid. You need a scientific study to figure this out?
Third, we tested Scrappy. Laurie had a near emptied bowl of potato salad that Scrappy was dying to finish. But see, Scrappy is trained to sit and wait on a treat when told. So Laurie told him, "Sit, " and so he did. And when we turned off all the lights and the TV, he never moved. For half a minute, he kept up a disinterested facade, not budging in the least until given the command, okay.
 |
| Dr. Kaminsky and her doggie, Ambula (named after a single ambulance?). Either he's just dumb, or you should try TRAINING him. |
ITEM: Lokomotiv took to the ice this morning after the week's break for the Oddset tourney in Sweden, and downed Amur 4-1 on a hat trick for Niklaus Hagman, his 10th, 11th, and 12th of the year. Two games remain in the regular season- against Nizhnekamsk (the "other" Metallurg) on Friday and Sibir on Sunday. Three playoff spots remain for the taking.
ITEM: I finally got tired of all the alcohol and substance abuse links thinking that my cap blog is the place to go to pimp their sites, so I clicked on the link to go complain to them. The link took me to Diaperspace, which is made up to look like Facebook (right down to the "It's free and always will be."), only for ABDL (which, I learned to my regret, stands for "adult baby diaper lovers"). These people have a lot worse problems than spamming MY blog, friends.
ITEM: I was thinking about the Papal resignation, and my mind came up with this soliliquy.
1871 was a great year for the office of the Pope and for the Church- although neither the Pope nor the Church saw it that way at the time. Why? Because in 1871 the Prussians and their German Confederation allies whupped the French in a war. You see, the Prussians were using the French as a goad to get the smaller German... Wait a minute, hold the story, because it's going off track. The French defeat meant that the French troops still in Rome had to come home. Why were there French troops in Rome? Because Italy had been in the midst of trying to become a united nation since 1848. It consisted then of the Austrian territories of Lombardy and Venetia, the duchy of Parma, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily (Usually going by the silly name of "the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies")- and the Papal States, a chunk of central Italy ruled by the Pope as a king ever since one Pope forged the "donation of Pepin" saying they ruled the area.
But in 1848, the people rose up in favor of a republic, and the French had to conquer Rome to keep the Pope in power. Those same French were there as most of the rest of Italy was forged into a single unit under the Piedmontese king. And when they left in 1871, the Italian army marched in and deposed the Pope from his temporal rule. The Popes didn't care for that, and it wasn't until a deal was reached in 1929 with Mussolini that the Pope regained an independant nation- albeit a nation 1/72,000th the size it was in 1848.
So how was this good for the popes and the church? Because, without being busy being a king, the succeeding Popes- Leo XIII, Pius X through XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, the two John Pauls, and a pair of Benedicts- the Popes have become Church fathers, leading the flock rather than playing politics. The result being a succession of saintly men the likes of which the Church had never seen. The man stepping down is the latest in a group of holy, humble men who have firmly put the Church's needs ahead of their own. Yep, 1871 was one of the best things that ever happened to the popes- and the church.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Lotsa Little bits vol. 7
ITEM: Well, I've got quite a collection of stupidity this week for your head scratching pleasure. And none of it done by me!
ITEM: Sometime after Valentine's Day, asteroid 2012 DA 14 will miss Terra Firma by some 17,000 miles (approximately the distance from here to the Central African Republic after circling the planet once). This was worrying the mind (such as it is) of CNN's Deborah Feyerick, and she kinda brought it up during an interview with Bill Nye, the Science Guy.
“Talk about something else that’s falling from the sky and that is an asteroid. What’s coming our way? Is this an effect of, perhaps, of global warming, or is this just some meteoric occasion?”
An asteroid approaching Earth being caused by global warming. Bill of course, was the soul of tact:
“No, no, no, no,” Nye replied to the spaced-out question, before gracefully extending Feyerick a lifeline by saying “except it’s all science. The word meteorology and the word meteor come from the same root, so, uhh…”
Which was nice, polite science speak for "How can you be that stupid and still breathe?" I myself can only come up with three answers: A) so enrapt in her agenda about global warming, she inserts it into every conversation. "I was going to by a darling dress at Macy's, but I was afraid it would raise my carbon footprint"; B) She was only paying passing attention to anything said that didn't involve herself, and thus confused what she was talking about; C) she's just that dumb.
ITEM: In Prince Goerge's county, Maryland, the school board thinks it has come up with a great new money making idea:
"Works created by employees and/or students specifically for use by the Prince George's County Public School or a specific school or department within PGCPS, are properties of the Board of Education even if created on the employee's or student's time and with use of their materials."
Yes, this is actually a proposed new rule- one that is one hold as parents and teachers alike are in revolt over the terms. This would include anything from a school program developed by a teacher for school work to a short story written by a kindergartner. Anyone else think this is ridiculous?
Copyright lawyer Lawrence Townsend tells FoxNews.com that while the county has the right under the Work for Hire provision to police what teachers do, trying to stake a claim in what students create won't fly.
"The students are mostly under the age of 18 and federal law protects their rights," he said. Townsend added that unless a parent or guardian signs off on it, what a student creates belongs to the student and not the school.
I guess our president isn't the only one running around shoulting "You didn't build that."
ITEM: The gay community is going after Superman now- specifically Orson Scott Card, one of the writers assigned to Adventures Of Superman. Card is a Mormon and has been outspoken about marriage as one man-one woman. For this heineous crime of believing God was working on the "tab A into slot B" plan, one of those annoying online petitions has been started demanding DC comics fire him. Never mind they don't want to be discriminated against themselves, but are more than happy to discriminate themselves. So far, DC is inviting them to join Superman in a flying leap. WAKE UP AMERICA!!! How long are we going to let the PC elite tell us what we can and cannot say in order to make a living in this world? While it is tempting to go on a rant about it being "truth, justice, and the American way" not "American gay", let me just put it this way- I never saw the Man Of Steel question the sexual preference of the old lady he was rescuing from the burning building.
ITEM: Or how about the woman in New Zealand whose cause of death was tied to the fact that she drank TEN LITERS of Coke A DAY. Apparently the combination of the excess caffeine (which is a diuretic) combined with all the fluid intake, caused her to piss all the potassium out of her system. In addition, she had a heart arythmia (surprise surprise), had lost all her teeth, and at least one of her 8 kids was born without enamel on their teeth. I might consume that much Pepsi in roughly 20 days, which means she would top my yearly cola consumption in something under three weeks.
ITEM: You really get an idea about how seriously the Obama Administration takes foreign policy. This morning on the news, I heard how even Russia and China were chastising North Korea for its latest missle test, which is mainly just saber rattling at the US of A, right? So if they think it makes for a bad situation, how must our government feel?
Asked Tuesday morning whether she expects a strong condemnation from the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said: "We'll do the usual drill."
Not surprising from the woman that blithely did the Meet-The-Press circuit claiming Benghazi was all about a youtube video after anyone with an actually-functioning brain knew better. Thank God Obama put her at the UN and not an important post. Still, with diplomats like her serving the administration, it's probably best for Obama that he got his peace prize before he'd actually done anything.
ITEM: Sometime after Valentine's Day, asteroid 2012 DA 14 will miss Terra Firma by some 17,000 miles (approximately the distance from here to the Central African Republic after circling the planet once). This was worrying the mind (such as it is) of CNN's Deborah Feyerick, and she kinda brought it up during an interview with Bill Nye, the Science Guy.
“Talk about something else that’s falling from the sky and that is an asteroid. What’s coming our way? Is this an effect of, perhaps, of global warming, or is this just some meteoric occasion?”
An asteroid approaching Earth being caused by global warming. Bill of course, was the soul of tact:
“No, no, no, no,” Nye replied to the spaced-out question, before gracefully extending Feyerick a lifeline by saying “except it’s all science. The word meteorology and the word meteor come from the same root, so, uhh…”
Which was nice, polite science speak for "How can you be that stupid and still breathe?" I myself can only come up with three answers: A) so enrapt in her agenda about global warming, she inserts it into every conversation. "I was going to by a darling dress at Macy's, but I was afraid it would raise my carbon footprint"; B) She was only paying passing attention to anything said that didn't involve herself, and thus confused what she was talking about; C) she's just that dumb.
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| "... and every time I eat a salad, does an adoreable crouton creature HAVE to die?" |
"Works created by employees and/or students specifically for use by the Prince George's County Public School or a specific school or department within PGCPS, are properties of the Board of Education even if created on the employee's or student's time and with use of their materials."
Yes, this is actually a proposed new rule- one that is one hold as parents and teachers alike are in revolt over the terms. This would include anything from a school program developed by a teacher for school work to a short story written by a kindergartner. Anyone else think this is ridiculous?
Copyright lawyer Lawrence Townsend tells FoxNews.com that while the county has the right under the Work for Hire provision to police what teachers do, trying to stake a claim in what students create won't fly.
"The students are mostly under the age of 18 and federal law protects their rights," he said. Townsend added that unless a parent or guardian signs off on it, what a student creates belongs to the student and not the school.
I guess our president isn't the only one running around shoulting "You didn't build that."
ITEM: The gay community is going after Superman now- specifically Orson Scott Card, one of the writers assigned to Adventures Of Superman. Card is a Mormon and has been outspoken about marriage as one man-one woman. For this heineous crime of believing God was working on the "tab A into slot B" plan, one of those annoying online petitions has been started demanding DC comics fire him. Never mind they don't want to be discriminated against themselves, but are more than happy to discriminate themselves. So far, DC is inviting them to join Superman in a flying leap. WAKE UP AMERICA!!! How long are we going to let the PC elite tell us what we can and cannot say in order to make a living in this world? While it is tempting to go on a rant about it being "truth, justice, and the American way" not "American gay", let me just put it this way- I never saw the Man Of Steel question the sexual preference of the old lady he was rescuing from the burning building.
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| Although I had to wonder about the shorts sometimes... |
ITEM: Or how about the woman in New Zealand whose cause of death was tied to the fact that she drank TEN LITERS of Coke A DAY. Apparently the combination of the excess caffeine (which is a diuretic) combined with all the fluid intake, caused her to piss all the potassium out of her system. In addition, she had a heart arythmia (surprise surprise), had lost all her teeth, and at least one of her 8 kids was born without enamel on their teeth. I might consume that much Pepsi in roughly 20 days, which means she would top my yearly cola consumption in something under three weeks.
ITEM: You really get an idea about how seriously the Obama Administration takes foreign policy. This morning on the news, I heard how even Russia and China were chastising North Korea for its latest missle test, which is mainly just saber rattling at the US of A, right? So if they think it makes for a bad situation, how must our government feel?
Asked Tuesday morning whether she expects a strong condemnation from the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said: "We'll do the usual drill."
Not surprising from the woman that blithely did the Meet-The-Press circuit claiming Benghazi was all about a youtube video after anyone with an actually-functioning brain knew better. Thank God Obama put her at the UN and not an important post. Still, with diplomats like her serving the administration, it's probably best for Obama that he got his peace prize before he'd actually done anything.
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