Time Mahcine week 102

Today is January 10, 1972.  And we are greeted with this sight:

The Queen Elizabeth, largest passenger liner for 55 years, came to the end of her ignoble retirement the day before.  Having been bought by Taiwanese tycoon C.Y. Tung in 1970, he was converting her into something he named "Seawise University"  (C.Y.- Sea Wise, get it?), but she was beset with several fires and gutted.  Whether it was due to the ardent Nationalist having work done by Communist unions, or the fact that he had her insured for over twice as much as he paid for her, was never established.

Welcome to this week's Time Machine, and ...er, on-deck for today, we have:  What you never knew, or didn't care, about the late Phil Everly;  The tribal schematics of the "only Native-American rock band", Redbone; a six degrees that takes in Michael Jackson, Elton John, the Delfonics, and... Love Story??  All that and a new #1!  Let us weigh anchor and be on with it!

We kick things off with our usual perusual (hee hee, little pun there) of the tops of everybody else's charts.  Internationally, we have a few changes, including Middle Of The Road raising their flag over South Africa and Switzerland with Soley Soley.  In Germany, Englishman Tony Christie tops the chart with (Is This The Way To) Amarillo, a song written by Neil Sedaka (and a #44 hit for him in 1977).  Christie never really got a foothold here, and his big UK hit was the previous year's I Did What I Did For Maria, co-written by Mitch Murray, also known for such comps as Gerry and the Pacemakers' How Do You It, Freddie and the Dreamers' I'm Telling You Now, and the more recent Hitchin' A Ride by Vanity Faire.  And in both the UK and Ireland, the New Seekers' version of I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing is at the top.

Domestically  almost all our stations either have American Pie at the top (both Detroits, both Chicagos, and the one Minneapolis reporting this week), or just dropped it in favor of Brand New Key (L.A. and a brand new stop, San Diego;  which is oddly the opposite of the national trend).  Pittsburgh stubbornly insists on Once You Understand.  The AC chart gives over to David Cassidy's Cherish;  R&B is on the first of NINE weeks for Let's Stay Together;  and the country chart has a double-sided hit by the Killer, Jerry Lee Lewis.  The country side is Would You Take Another Chance On Me; the pop side is a cover of Me And Bobby McGee.  McGee hit 40 on BB, making it JLL's last top 40; the country side was far from his last.  In fact, he hit the Country top 20 another 17 times, including the follow-up- a #1 cover of Chantilly Lace.

Which brings us to one of our smallest hot 100 debut crops- only three, and mentioning only the one- the Supremes 2.0 with Floy Joy.  The Ross-less Supremes had one more top 40 left in them after this one, written by Smokey Robinson.  The funny thing to me is the way they were almost as successful without Ross as with- in the UK.  Whereas the original group had 19 top 12s to the Ross-less group's 2 in the US of A, they had 8 to the new group's 7 in the UK.

And off we go to a much more substantial birthday song list than last week.  Turning 30, we have The Police's Wrapped Around Your Finger; Van Halen's sell-out hit, Jump; Duran Duran's New Moon On Monday; and of course, Quiet Riot's Bang Your Head (Metal Health).  Turning 35, Donna Summer and Brooklyn Dreams with Heaven Knows; the Little River Band with Lady- one of two songs I debuted at #1 on the mighty Martin chart of 1977-83; and Poco's first foray into the top 40, Crazy Love.  Turning 40, we have one of my favorite all-time Stones songs, Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker), along with Cher's Dark Lady and the classic heartbreaker, Terry Jacks' Seasons In The Sun.  Nothing of note at 45; but turning fifty, the first shot across the bow of the music world...

That's right, last year we got all those Beach Boys 50th anniversaries; this year, it'll be the Beatles.  Stay tuned for more.

Our big mover is Van Morrison with Tupelo Honey, climbing 20 to land at #69 this week.  The big dropper is the appropriate Get Down by Curtis Mayfield.  Curtis peaked at 52 with this a few weeks back, and now falls 29 spots to #85.

And that means it's time to light up a big ol' boofer and kick back with our 45 at 45 this week- Steppenwolf's Magic Carpet Ride,  stopping on it's way down from a peak of 2 on Cashbox (3 on BB).  It was co-written by John Kay and Rushton Moreve, the latter of which would be leaving the band after refusing to return to California.  Why? Well, I'll start the story way back in the 1800's with naturalist Thomas Huxley, known as Darwin's Bulldog for his support of evolutionary theory, and also the man who coined the term "agnostic".  Thomas was part of a famous family; and he had a grandson Aldous Huxley.  He was known as the author of 1939's Brave New World and for becoming another of the late 50s- early 60s intellectual "drug gurus".  He in turn had a granddaughter named, believe it or not, Animal, and Animal was Moreve's girlfriend at the time, and convinced him that California would soon slide into the sea.  See where evolution gets you? 

Where it gets us is the top 40 debuts, of which we have 5 this week.  The first of these is The Witch Queen Of New Orleans, the first hit for American Indian band Redbone.  Redbone itself is a Cajun term ("Rehbon") for a half-breed, so I got curious about the NA heritage of the band.  Turns out it was founded by brothers Pat and "Lolly" Vegas (original surname Vasquez), who were a mix of Yaqui Indian and Mexican (who adopted the last name Vegas to downplay that aspect).  They were joined by Peter DePoe AKA Last Walking Bear, who was a cocktail of  Northern Cheyenne, Arapahoe, Chippewa, Siletz, Rogue River Tutuni, and Iroquois; along with Tony Bellamy, real name Robert Anthony Avilla, a Yaqui/Chicano.  Legend has it that it was Jimi Hendrix, himself 1/8th Cherokee, who talked them into playing up the NA aspect.  DePoe left before the big hit Come And Get Your Love;  his spot was taken by Butch Rillera, Bellamy/Avilla's cousin, who was a Filipino/Mex-Am.

Moving on, Nilsson comes in at 39, up 8 notches, with Without You;  Up 6 spots to 36 we have Gladys Knight Und Der Pipsters with Make Me The Woman You Come Home To;  Elton John moves up 10 to 33 with Levon; and Think's Once You Understand, aided greatly by the Pittsburgh area, finally enter the 40 at #32, up 13 spots.

That brings us to our newest feature, which I haven't really gave a name but is basically Almost But Not Quite on steroids.  The tunes that begin their descent without tasting the top 10 this week are four in number.  Tommy James' Nothing To Hide peaked at 25 last week and falls a pair; Rod Stewart and the Faces drop after peaking at 22 with (I Know I'm) Losing You; John Denver's Friends With You slides after a peak of 27; and The Who have the big man on campus this week, with their classic Behind Blue Eyes starting its descent after peaking at 24.


Last Friday we lost Phil Everly.  In honor of one-half of the greatest duo in music history, here's some tidbits you may or may not have known:

- Phil was the younger brother, 2 years younger than Don.
-  James Best was their cousin.

Ghig, ghig, ghig, that's right, Flash!

- Phil was one of Buddy Holly's Pall Bearers.  Don was too broke up to make it.

- Phil formed a one-shot band with Glen Campbell and Carole King called the Keestone Family Singers.  Their one record, a novelty called Cornbread And Chitlins with a Goffin/King flip side, Melodrama, did not chart.

- Their breakup- lasting many years- came at was to be a final performance anyway.  It was on July 14th, 1973, at Knott's Berry Farm- appropriate, as they got drunk beforehand, butchered the set list, argued- and finally Phil slammed down his guitar, shouted, "I don't want to be an Everly Brother anymore," and walked off.  Don then told the crowd, "The Everly Brothers have been dead for ten years."  They would sadly wait until their dad's death to make up.

 

 

 

Two songs enter the top ten, two fall out.  the droppers are All I Ever Need Is You (6 to 11) and An Old Fashioned Love Song (10 to 15).

The Jackson Five climb a pair to #10 with Sugar Daddy.

Donnie Osmond holds at #9 with Hey Girl.

Coming in after a three notch move to #8, Jonathon Edwards with Sunshine.

Dennis Coffey holds at 7 with Scorpio.

Al Green moves up a pair to 6 with Let's Stay Together.

Sly Stone "and the Family" hold at 5 with former top dog Family Affair.

Which brings us to this week's six degrees.

The Michael Jackson solo Got To Be There (falling from #1 to 4 this week) Was featured on the lp Flying High Together by the Miracles later in the year.  An anti-prophetic title, it was the last Miracles record with the departing Mr. and Mrs. Smokey Robinson.  It had two new songs released as singles, which paeked at #45 and#46; but it was mainly an album of covers.  They not only covered Got To Be There, but also the Chi-Lites' Oh, Girl, the Love Story Theme, and the Stylistics' Betcha By Golly Wow.  That song was written by their manager- and former leader of the Delfonics- Thom Bell.  In 1977, Elton John's music relationship with Bernie Taupin was breaking up, and he had Thom Bell  produce a record of "Philly style" tunes.  Friction between this pair would lead to only an EP being released, and that 2 years later.  But that EP contained the #9 hit Mama Can't Buy You Love, which broke a slump Elton had been in the US of A since Don't Go Breaking My Heart (9 single releases, 4 charting).  Mama was written by Bell's nephew Leroy, with Casey James, who as Bell and James would hit #15 in '79 with Living It Up (Friday Nights).

Bell and James, Livin' it up.

David Cassidy moves into the #3 slot, a climb of one, with Cherish.

Melanie, having dropped from 1 to 3 last week, climbs back to #2 with Brand New Key. 


And that means our new # 1 is...

American Pie by Don McLean!!!!


Next week MAY be the long awaited Beauty Contest episode so tune in!

Like sands through the hourglass...

...so are the days of my layoff.  In fact, yesterday I had the following text convo with my boss:

Boss:  Weren't you scheduled to be back this week?
Me:  No.  The 13th.
Boss:  Okay, Thanks.

Which, if you knew my boss, really isn't that surprising a conversation.  After 4 weeks, you might tend to be a little absent minded.  I, however, have the sword of Damocles over my head and am well aware of the passing of time.

Remember when we were kids?  A whole year seemed like an insurmountable time period, summer vacation lasted forever, Christmas and New Years were more than an eyeblink?  I still remember when walking out to the big oak tree in the back yard seemed a long way (maybe 50 feet), and a walk to the woods ( about a half-mile away) seemed a full-day event.  Now it seems like the "five-day week" goes:  Monday, work on Time Machine, Friday/Saturday, football, and Monday.  Maybe that's why Scrappy explodes from the house every time we walk, sniffing the ground in a million places at once as if he'll never get the chance again.

So anyway, still waiting on Unemployment to kick into gear- and it might be a bit.  It takes three weeks now to get them to look at you, so maybe they'll pay out something by the time I go back to work.  And maybe I'll have wandered over to the fitness center more than the one time I have managed in three and a half weeks.  There's always hope, as Bing used to say.

In the meantime, I have accomplished next to nothing- even my Christmas lights have begun the process of taking themselves down without me.  I did watch Titanic last night for, what, the fifth time?  Never has a movie got to me like that one did.  I still think it's the finest movie ever put together.  Always in tears at the final scene, when you sweep around the Grand Staircase, and everyone is applauding Rose and Jack.  I can't get over the excellent casting- Rose's Mom, the Captain, Molly Brown, even Bruce Ismay, weasel that he was.  I was reading last night that they originally thought of Matthew McConnaughey as Rose's fiancé.  That I don't see.

And this morning I did get around to posting about the little drinking game I played Saturday on the caps blog.  So go up and hit the link.

Anyone else getting tired of Bloggers little "An error occurred while trying to publish or save your post"? I know I am.

There was one news story that broke around here that Bobby G. informs me that I am to have at.  And it isn't funny or amusing in the least.  As I understand it, the police were called to a local motel about children living in "deplorable conditions"- and that they should hurry, as the parents were apparently preparing to am-scray.  When the cops got there, what they found:

-an unheated van, putrid smelling and full of trash;
-a father, apparently mentally challenged, also putrid and trying to "explain";
-a mother who would not leave the van, apparently taken away in handcuffs after she through the keys out the window;
-seven children, all putrid, dirty clothes, no shoes, half frozen, including a one-week old in a onesie;
-at least two of the children were zip-tied to the seats, one of them a severely autistic 14-year-old who wouldn't sit still any other way;
-a dog in the van, and two cats back in the room- a vacant room that they had apparently "moved into", which Neighborhood Code had discovered and called police about.


The woman told police that there was an open Child Protective Services case and that the caseworker had "approved" the child seats being used (likely as an excuse for the zip-ties).  The room was covered in food debris and smelled of... well, you know.

How many people out there let these people fall through the cracks?  Was there a CPS case?  Was the one-week-old born in a hospital? How long were they holed up in the room, with or without the motel's knowledge, before NC got involved?  The autistic boy was the oldest, 14 years old- are you telling me no one has bothered to help these people- and I mean REALLY help- in FOURTEEN YEARS?  Looking down the comments on the INC story, you find this telling tale:

"I can tell you that these children have family that has tried to fight for them. They have been involved with CPS since the 14 year old was small. They have been removed from the home in the past, family tried to fight to keep them from going back to these conditions. CPS continually gives them back to these people and they continue to keep having children!!! It is a very sad situation and there is nothing anyone can do until it gets this bad or I should say until they are checked on and found to still be living this way. It has nothing to do with lack of money or resources and more to do with the parents lack of ability to see how wrong all this truly is. I hope I am wrong but I can almost guarantee they will get these children back again. I always pray that maybe this will be the final straw and the children will be saved and given a chance at a normal life only to be disappointed by the system that is supposed to protect our children again."

One thing I do have against Indiana's GOP government is the continual short shrift being given to statewide CPS.  Their solution a few years back was to remove control from county level to state level, which has proven not only to NOT be the efficient solution they thought it would be, but a convenient excuse for pushing families like these under the rug.  You can't fix everything by streamlining them.  Sometimes you DO have to spend the time and resources and manpower.

Here's a thought:  I counted 77 people JUST in Marion County government (Indianapolis' county) making from $150 K up to almost $3 million a year.  Another 39 in state government.  And at state-run universities, another 227- including 13 at various levels of coaching or administering athletics- making $250 K on up.  IU basketball coach  Tom Crean could give 53.8 families of nine like that a federal poverty level income of $43,650 and STILL make $100 K a year!  In all, three members of the Citizen's Energy Group (the utilities trust) make an average of $1,849,177.57 a year; and the IU and Purdue head football and basketball coaches combine for the average salary of  $1,946,089.07 a year.  Which, for the football coaches, comes out to $611,705.11 PER WIN.  Do you see where I'm going here?  From a 2011 report:

In a brutal budget session, child protective services (CPS) fared better than most state services for 2012-13. The proposed rate cuts for foster care and adoption payments were not implemented and some caseload growth for these programs was funded. At this funding level, CPS hopes to move forward with its proposal to redesign foster care to help children move to permanency faster. With the budget, CPS can actually start hiring new staff to work with children and families at the start of state fiscal year 2012. Finally, funding for families services was maintained at 2010-11 levels.

But the overall budget for CPS is 10 percent less than what CPS estimated it needed for the biennium to help families affected by child abuse and neglect. Caseload growth for family services was not funded and statewide intake staff, adoption services, and child abuse and neglect prevention programs were cut.


So you see, it's not how it's spent in Indiana, but WHO it's spent on.

Shakin' in the aftermath

OMG we are at a positive 0.7 degrees F (that's -17 C, or 256 K for you scientists) at 12:40 PM, the first time we've been above zero in some time.  Sometime in the early morning hours we (being our back porch gauge) hit a low of -13.4. (-25 C, 248 K).  This morning, Scrappy and I ventured out to test out the car and see if it could be backed out.  The snow was not quite a foot deep and loose so moving was a yes; the car said, "wooooom...woooom...VROOOM", so we could get out if we had to.

Do we need to?  Not really, thank God.

Scrappy quickly lost his taste for the adventure- by the time I had started the car, he was sitting on the sidewalk, his butt hovering off the surface, and not looking happy.  He had over the last two days took some of the quickest bathroom outings in history.  I think all yesterday's trips combined wouldn't make a trip at 70 degrees.

I do have a few things in the ol' hopper to chat about for today.  So I guess this is kind of an unofficial MWN post.  To wit:

ITEM:  Came across a Washington Post article in which the rabid Global Warming people tried to point out that one "polar vortex" doesn't mean there's no global warming (of course, they have been so vilified by the term they must call it "climate change" now.  I guess that way, if the numbers swing the opposite direction, they can still say, "I told you so!")  The article was written in the usual condescending, "since you can't understand simple logic" manner that such articles always are; but one comment left on the article I thought summed up the "idiotic opposition":

The problem with climate models is that it can't, as yet, take in all the data needed to make the model perform as the climate will. Part of this problem lies in that we don't know everything that goes into the making climate or the degree of the effects we do know. Geological data doesn't work well in most models and some ignore this data completely. Climate modelling is very, very inexact. 
All that being said, humans do effect climate and we can see that---city heat sinks, agricultural and political mistakes such as the 1930s "dust bowl" or the Soviet Union's attempt to make a cotton industry by draining the Aral Sea also have natural climatic parts to it, though we can for the most part thank human "intervention" for these disasters. But as dramatic as these are they are still "local" events... 


To which of course the smart-ass response was "The locality you refer to being the Planet Earth?"  Combine such ass-hattery with the continual fall back to "97% of scientists agree on climate change", and you see why I told a minion of GW on FB, "You need to examine for yourself whether you believe because of the science or because of the agenda."  Though he apologized later, his first response to that was something along the lines of "the only people who disbelieve are religious conservatives, tea-partiers, and extremists."  And I replied to the effect of, "This is not a religious issue.  This is a 'I need to do more of my own thinking and stop relying on Bill Nye to do my science' issue.  And pretty much proves my point- do you believe the science or the agenda?"


ITEM: Friday, January 3rd, Cubans were allowed to buy foreign cars newer than 1959 without filling out the mountain of government paperwork to get permission for the first time.  Those of you that believe Obama isn't a socialist, see if this sounds familiar:  The Cuban Government still is the "retailer" for all car purchases; and the cars now available were slapped with a FOUR HUNDRED PER CENT MARK UP.  IOW, a 2005 Renault, available outside the island for $3,000, costs a Cuban $25,000.  Or to put it another way, if they were sold interest free, it would take the average Cuban, living without money for ANYTHING else, 104 years and 2 months to buy it.

But wait! There is an Obamacare-like consolation here...



The government said all profits would go into a special fund to upgrade public transportation.

Gee, thanks, Raul.  The rich get cars for an extortionistic price, and the poor get to ride even more unsafe, dilapidated buses.  Socialism really works, don't it?

ITEM:  While on the subject of driving safety, here's one from the BBC:

Richard Newton, 36, from Whitby, was filmed driving for about 30 seconds with both hands off the steering wheel, Scarborough Magistrates' Court heard.

He was caught by a police safety camera van on the A171 between Whitby and Guisborough on 9 August.

Mr Newton had argued he was in control of the car but was found guilty of dangerous driving.

He was given a 12-month ban and ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work in the community.

He was also fined £625 ($1,024.88) and told he must pay a £60 ($98.39) victim surcharge.

Dave Brown, from North Yorkshire Police said: "This case demonstrates two things. One is the sheer stupidity of some people who put others in danger and the other is the ability of our safety camera to capture a range of offences."

 

Remember the old cigarette slogan, "The pause that refreshes"?  This would be, "The pause that costs you $1,100"!


ITEM: On the subject of the BBC, here's another hoot story I found there.  To those allergic to links, basically: In Holland's Amsterdam, homeless alcoholics are being given a hot lunch, cigarettes, and- most importantly- beer, on the government's dime, in return for spending 9 AM to 3 PM picking up litter in public parks.


"I have four children and three ex-wives, but alcohol has finished everything. I don't see them, they don't know where I am, or if I am alive. Now I have only him. He is there for 30 years, when times are good and bad, he is always there," (a homeless alcoholic named "Rene") says, referring to his habit.

His affectionate gaze travels downwards. It rests on an aluminum can.


Or, in non-alcoholic terms, "I've ruined the lives of at minimum 8 people including myself, but thank God for litter.

ITEM: I was directed to an article in Rolling Stone by a common sense-challenged individual named Jesse A Myerson called Five Economic Reforms Millennials Should be Fighting For."  I thought, knowing the quality of article RS publishes these days, it should be good for a laugh.  Lets have a look, shall we?  And if you make it to the end, I have a cute picture or two of Scrappy loving on his Daddy to show you...

1.  Guaranteed work for every one.  "Unemployment blows. The easiest and most direct solution is for the government to guarantee that everyone who wants to contribute productively to society is able to earn a decent living in the public sector. There are millions of people who want to work, and there's tons of work that needs doing – it's a no-brainer."  No brainer indeed.  How does he intend to get "the public sector" to create all those jobs, when they can't create them NOW?  "A job guarantee that paid a living wage would anchor prices, drive up conditions for workers at megacorporations like Walmart and McDonald's, and target employment for the poor and long-term unemployed – people to whom conventional stimulus money rarely trickles all the way down.
The only thing that would trickle down from "driving up conditions for workers at Wal-Mart and McDonalds" would be MORE UNEMPLOYMENT.  But wait, he has an "alternate solution":

Some economists have proposed running a job guarantee through the non-profit sector, which would make it even easier to suit the job to the worker. Imagine a world where people could contribute the skills that inspire them – teaching, tutoring, urban farming, cleaning up the environment, painting murals – rather than telemarketing or whatever other stupid tasks bosses need done to supplement their millions.
Imagine a world where non-profits, which depend on the hated rich to give donations to to remain "non-profit", start shriveling up because the hated rich don't feel like contributing to what amounts to nothing more than direct welfare.  But wait, it gets better...

2. Social security for all.  If you want a peak into this moron's soul, here it comes.  "But let's think even bigger. Because as much as unemployment blows, so do jobs. What if people didn't have to work to survive? Enter the jaw-droppingly simple idea of a universal basic income, in which the government would just add a sum sufficient for subsistence to everyone's bank account every month."And where does that money come from?  And how is it sustained? and what level do we receive?  AND WHO THE HELL DOES ALL THE WORK?

Put another way: A universal basic income, combined with a job guarantee and other social programs, could make participation in the labor force truly voluntary, thereby enabling people to get a life.Martin Quick Quiz:  Count up all the things wrong in that one statement and answer in the comments section.  Highest number wins.

3. Take back the land.  WTH does that mean?  Take a deep breath:

Ever noticed how much landlords blow? They don't really do anything to earn their money. They just claim ownership of buildings and charge people who actually work for a living the majority of our incomes for the privilege of staying in boxes that these owners often didn't build and rarely if ever improve. In a few years, my landlord will probably sell my building to another landlord and make off with the appreciated value of the land s/he also claims to own – which won't even get taxed, as long as s/he ploughs it right back into more real estate.
Think about how stupid that is. The value of the land has nothing to do with my idle, remote landlord; it reflects the nearby parks and subways and shops, which I have access to thanks to the community and the public. So why don't the community and the public derive the value and put it toward uses that benefit everyone? Because capitalism, is why.
The most mainstream way of flipping the script is a simple land-value tax. By targeting wealthy real estate owners and their free rides, we can fight inequality and poverty directly, make disastrous asset price bubbles impossible and curb Wall Street's hideous bloat.


Do you see where this is going?  This article should have been titled "Pie-In-The-Sky Communism For Idiots."  Just leaves out the part where the Government does all these things for HIS buddies; the wealth transfers from one group to another, the poor stay poor, the lazy stay lazy, and nobody is allowed a voice in disputing it.  Does he know that the Soviet Union collapsed?  But let's go on.

4. Make Everything Owned By Everybody.  And he even has a way to do it, and a model to look up to:
 "...there's a way easier way to collectivize wealth ownership than having to stage uprisings that seize the actual airplanes and warehouses and whatnot: Just buy up their stocks and bonds. When the government does that, it's called a sovereign wealth fund. Think of it like a big investment fund that buys up assets from the private sector and pays dividends to all permanent U.S. residents in the form of a universal basic income. Alaska actually already has a fund like this in place. If it's good enough for Levi Johnston, it's good enough for you.


Levi Johnston, for those who have forgotten, is the freeloader gentleman who thought that knocking up the Governor's daughter was a ticket to wealth, then abandoned her when he found out conservative governors' families still expect you to work.  He's bound to think all this is a great idea.

And finally...

5.   A public bank in every state.  "You know what else really blows? Wall Street. The whole point of a finance sector is supposed to be collecting the surplus that the whole economy has worked to produce, and channeling that surplus wealth toward its most socially valuable uses."
I don't think I've ever heard "the finance sector" described that way.  I always thought it was a business, one of many.  How much money does George Soros "channel towards the most socially valuable uses?"  I mean, besides the well over $30 Million he's dumped into Democratic superPACs?

There is only one state that currently has a public option for banking: North Dakota. When North Dakotans pay state taxes, the money gets deposited in the state's bank, which in turn offers cheap loans to farmers, students and businesses.

And I guarantee you, if they're anything like Indiana, Myerson and his ilk will then bitch about the money being given to rich farmers collecting government subsidies for doing nothing.  Anyone who doubts me on that, I have a local blogger I can steer you to who spends about 75% of her blogging on that very subject.  Because, as you might guess, we have a GOP congressman whose family is in the farming business.

__________________________

And finally, the pictures:

The Mighty Winter Storm, (possibly) Part one

This is what we had pre-storm... by the way he's running, you know Scrappy hasn't had any fun in a while.

We went to the Hump'n'Dump, and hooked up with Roscoe.

"Did you pee here?"
"No, did you?"

I believe Roscoe was the one who gave Scrappy the ninja kick last summer.

 (Note:  It was!  See this post for details!)

They ran, they played... and humped...

So we move on to Sunday morning:

I have honestly never seen snow stick to tree branches like this.

These were at 9 AM  About a half inch to start.  Temp 33.9 degrees.

At 10, we were at 3/4" on the back porch.... but I was about an hour away from a very important epiphany...



We were at around 1 1/4" by 11, and the temp outside had risen about 2 degrees from the 33.9 we started at.  But by 12 it dawned on me that because of all the trees on the back, the snow would get deeper in the front.

By this point we were closing on 2 inches... still not the "inch and a half per hour" we'd been threatened with.

 

 

By about 1 PM, I re-shoveled the back porch and estimated we had around 1 3/4- 2" back here.  There was 2 1/2 out front.  It had already been as warm as it was going to get- 36.5 degrees.

 



By 2, we were at 2 in the back and 3 in the front.  I wasn't feeling too bad about the trip to the parking lot to dig Laurie a space when she got home around three...

 

BUT, it hadn't been plowed from last round, was wet and about a foot deep.  We won't talk about how much I coughed or how much my chest hurt when I got in...

The next door neighbor and her little doggie were working on a snowman, and she told me about the three someone had built out back.

Job done, Scrappy waited for his mommy...

...somewhere on the other side of THAT.

Laurie eventually made it through and I got to warm up about 5 minutes before the next check.  We were 2 1/2 in back and 4 out front.

Once our neighbor's hubby came out, they had this Frosty done by 4 PM.

An hour after Laurie pulled in, an inch and a quarter was on her windshield.

This was the hour that slammed us.  The back was up to 4 3/4; the front was 5 1/2.  I'm thinking it was even worse in the lot.

Temp. hadn't moved much... 33.1.

The slam had added 2 1/4 to the back and 1 1/2 to the front...  but the front would regain the initiative by 5.

They began the plowing of the road and lots at 5... and would snowblow the front at 5:30.

Now we were at 5 1/2 back and 6 1/4 front.   Scrappy was tired from all his "help" shoveling....

...so Mommy had some fun with him.  Little did she know what was in store for her....

Between  5 and 6, the back went up another 1/2" and the temp dropped 4 1/2 degrees to 25.9. 

Still coming down pretty good at this point.  But both Mommy and Beagle had dozed off...

...and I got 'em!

At this point it was getting dark for pics, and the snow was slowing down.  A level one emergency was declared, meaning nobody travels unless an emergency.   The temp had stabilized, only losing 3 degrees in three hours, as the snow slowly creeped towards the 9 inch mark out front.

Even Frosty had about three inches on his nose by 9 PM.

However, where we are, we haven't got the wind yet.  A few miles to the south, though, in the open country, winds are in the 20-30 mph range.   I have the police and emergency scanner on, and we just listened to a mad race by three emergency vehicles trying to reach a 5 month old that needed hospital transport.  One vehicle's driver had a friend that lived nearby and plowed them a path;  the closest vehicle said he didn't know "if I'm even on the road..."  Moments ago, another responder said he "had just spoken to the county, and they weren't even going to have any (snowplow) drivers come in until morning."  So for every idiot who gets what he deserves sliding off when they aren't legally supposed to be ON the road (For example, two slideoffs in the last two hours within 1.3 miles of where Laurie had to drive home), there's a lot that is NOT amusing here.




Martin World News

Normally I'd do a MWN on a Monday, but I have an overflow of items, and since we'll all be frozen solid by Monday night, I thought I'd do this now.

ITEM:  The story I've been sitting on the longest came last Sunday, courtesy the FW News-Sentinel:

News-Sentinel staff report

Tuesday, December 31, 2013 - 12:01 am

Police break up tussling at church

Fort Wayne Police were called to break up a fight Sunday at Friendship Baptist Church, 451 E. Douglas St.

According to a police report, an officer responded at 11:55 a.m. to a call of a lot of people arguing and causing a scene in front of the church. The officer discovered an alleged scandal was going on with someone at the church. Apparently a man was offended when another member grabbed him by the lapels of his sports coat and said “I've been wanting a piece of you for a while,” the police report said.

The crowd was dispersed by police but they were later called to the Allen County Public Library, where the group had gathered to hash out their differences in the congregation. According to the report the responding officer thought the parties involved were being loud and it was in the best interests of the people and the library to ask them all to leave for the day.

 

 

Yes, the first two spots I'd pick for a fight:  a church and a library.  That way you cover both the secular AND religious sides of the conflict.

 

ITEM: In honor of the death of 94-year-old AK-47 inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov, the Moscow Times did a "5 things you didn't know about him":

1-He once was so sick as a boy that they had to check if he was still alive by putting a feather in front of his nose to see if he was still breathing.  After one such check yielded nothing, a coffin maker was summoned- but he "came back to life" while the carpenter measured him for the casket.

 

2-At the age of 15 (in the year 1919), he was arrested for weapons possession.  Making AKs already?  No, a friend had given him a broken Browning pistol for some reason.  Took him 2 days to convince officials (Not sure if we're dealing with Bolsheviks or Whites at this point) that it wasn't his gun.

 

3- As a result of the arrest, he said the heck with High School (Or it with him) and went to work as recordkeeper at a rail station.  He never held a diploma until getting an honorary degree in 1971.

 

4- His first attempt at invention was trying to come up with a bicycle.  Failing that, he then spent the next eight years (presumably up until his eviction from high school) trying to build a "perpetual motion machine". 

 

5-While he never managed to make that, either, he was able to turn old washing machine parts and a milk cart into a functioning lawn mower.

 

ITEM:  Time to veer off into the realm of sex, courtesy those whacky Danes at the Copenhagen Post.

Finally, an answer to one of the most pressing questions of our times: what should we call the vagina?  The erotic magazine Tidens Kvinder wasn't happy with the current options for how Danish women should refer to their private parts, so it set out to do something about it by holding a contest that asked readers to submit their own suggestions on what to call 'it'. 
The magazine found some of the common Danish words for the vagina – including ‘fisse’, ‘kusse’, ‘fjappen’, ‘skræv’ and ‘dåsen’ (the can) - to be insulting, while others – ‘missen’ (the kitty), ‘fi’, ‘hun’ (her) and ‘tissekone’ – were seen as too childish.  
So after an exhaustive search the magazine's panel - headed by what one can only assume are vagina experts - has settled on a new term: 'gina'. 
"The name is short and precise, easy to say and is nickname-like – sweet and sexy at once," Renee Toft Simonsen, an editor for the magazine, said. 
According to the magazine, it now hopes that Danes will incorporate 'gina' into their vocabulary, "whether with the doctor, their friends or in erotic literature".
'Gina' beat out 311 other suggestions for a new name. 

 

Good thing they know how to prioritize society's challenges over there, eh?

 

ITEM: Also on the subject, we bring you a controversial ad for a burger place called Goodtime Burgers in Australia.  Apparently, the copy for their upcoming opening in Bondi Junction ran like this:

 

Yes, the traditional burger buns have been replaced with an otherwise-bikini-clad woman.  Now I have known truck drivers who would probably say a lifelong dream just came true, but I'd have to say that's not the kinda cheese I want on MY burger.  Needless to say, the Advertising Standards Board made them pull the ad for being degrading to women, despite their defense which boiled down to "if you can't see her chest, it could have been a man as easy as a woman."

And don't THAT make it more appealing. 

ITEM: And wrapping up the sex stories, a not-so-funny event:  a Frujita, Colorado, teacher was arrested for using Facebook to suggest his students (15-to-17 years old) send him topless pictures.  So Colorado, on top of the home of the Columbine and Aurora incidents, and a secessionist movement by several counties over "mineral rights" now has this story.  And you REALLY think it's a good idea for them to vote in legalized marijuana?  REALLY???

ITEM:  Now Wal-Mart has been caught up in the latest meat-for-human-consumption scandal, this time over selling donkey meat in China.  "Donkey meat?  UGGGH", you say, but donkey meat is not the problem.  Donkey meat is acceptable in China.  The problem?  They found traces of- are you ready?- FOX MEAT in their donkey meat. 

"This is another hit on Wal-Mart's brand, meaning wealthy shoppers will start to lose the trust they had before," said Shaun Rein, Shanghai-based managing director of China Market Research Group.

Can it really be so bad in a country where WEALTHY customers prefer donkey meat?

ITEM:  In another blow against Global Warming, the North Pole is about to dump record cold on all of us.  Particularly in the northern Midwest, where the playoff football game will be played in -2 to -7 F (-18 to -21 C, or for you scientists, 251 to 254 K) temps, and school is already called off for Monday all across Minnesota and some areas in Wisconsin.  On the bright side, a local company bought up 3,000 tickets so they could avoid the TV blackout and will be giving them out free to active military and their families (Damn, Santa, how about just a lump of coal instead?).  Into the midst of this, weather experts not encumbered by their "GW agenda" add this cheery note:

And though this cold spell will last just a few days as warmer air comes behind, it likely will freeze over the Great Lakes and other bodies of water, meaning frigid temperatures will likely last the rest of winter, said Ryan Maue, a meteorologist for Weather Bell.
"It raises the chances for future cold," he said, adding it could include next month's Super Bowl in New York.

While this may not disprove GW of itself, it sure makes the NFL look like idiots for believing in it enough to put the Super Bowl in a cold-weather, outdoor stadium.  Bet Bruno Mars is looking foreward to being the halftime act!  Oh, and speaking of Mars:


Astronauts hopeful of stepping foot on Mars may first want to make a visit to Winnipeg in winter, as temperatures there are currently on par with Martian highs.
At one point on Tuesday temperatures in the central Canadian city were colder than on the surface of Mars.
On New Year’s Eve, the Winnipeg Museum, citing data from the NASA’s Curiosity rover, reported that the high temperature on the Red Planet was -29°C (-18F). Thermometers in Winnipeg only reached a high of -31°C (-20F) that day.

 

ITEM:  Finally, it has been suggested by a friend that I do a weekly "Laurie's stories of Wal-Mart" feature.  I think this idea has real promise, and so, here's a couple of such stories:

-One of the biggest problems being a WM cashier is the whole "ID for alcohol" thing.  If you are with someone who is buying alcohol (and presumably aren't a child), BOTH people are required to show ID.  Now you wouldn't think that would be a big deal- after all, if your over-age buddy is buying you booze, it would just make sense that you make yourself scarce.  BZZZZZZZT!  Over and over, people are stunned, and pitch a bitch over having to show ID if they don't have cash in hand.  And are even more stunned when they retreat, the underager leaves, the over-ager comes back TO THE SAME LANE, and gets refused a second time.

And if it ain't the age, it's the ID itself.  An EXPIRED ID doesn't fly- just ask the guy a couple nights back who used a drivers license that had been expired SINCE JUNE.  Or the dude who came up with a green ID card looking like they'd tried to laminate it into a baggie, claiming it was a Brazilian ID.  Shoot, I wish I still had my Avengers ID!

It looked just like this, with a picture of me glued on, and PROPERLY laminated.

-And last night, some dude tried to buy a jacket, which was no biggie- until Laurie found the HAT stuffed up one sleeve.  "I don't know how that got in there, I didn't put it there", he said.  Uh-huh.

- Or how about the conscientious customer who reported AS he was leaving to Laurie, who could do jack about it, about the dude he saw leaving with unpaid for items AS he was coming in!  Nice of the guy, but to be helpful, it would be nice if you could manage a) to report it in a TIMELY manner, b)to the proper people, i.e. a floor manager.

-And I almost forgot the story from a few days ago.  Policy is that cashiers aren't to put unwanted items away, they are to call a CSM (customer service manager, I assume) to put it away.  Of course, doing this often gets you an "I'm too busy" or an "I'll be right there (nod, nod, wink, wink)"  So imagine what Laurie thought of the sign posted in the cashier's check in area saying "Cashiers MUST contact a CSM when they get an unwanted item.  Items must not be left at the station".

So, as you might surmise, WM could solve a lot of these problems with a few simple steps, to wit:

-POST the ID policy prominently at the registers and in the alcohol department.  Better yet, have one dedicated checkout in the department for alcohol.

-When a door person has to go on break, have SOMEONE there to relieve them, rather than just abandoning the post.

-How about telling the CSMs to do their jobs as well?

ITEM:  Looking in the ol' spam file, I got this amusing comment on an old post:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "February Flotsam on Sunday":

I usually do not leave a lot of responses, however i did some
searching and wound up here "February Flotsam on Sunday". And I
actually do have a few questions for you if you usually do
not mind. Could it be only me or does it look like some of the comments come across as if they are coming from brain dead individuals?
:-P And, if you are posting at other social sites, I'd like to keep up with anything fresh
you have to post. Would you list of the complete urls
of your social pages like your Facebook page, twitter feed, or linkedin profile?


My web blog ... prom
So I looked into the comments put on that particular post, which had to do with an article by one David Barton about the decay of society since the No-Prayer-In-Schools decision and an atheist's response to it.  Bobby G. as always had an intelligent, thought out comment.  However, my son posted this:

kcthemaineventFebruary 27, 2011 at 7:44 PM

kyle busch take over!

 

I usually believe spammers just hit posts at random.  Now I'm not so sure...

 

 

Okay, we're done for today.  Hopefully we'll all survive Santa's late present and reconvene at a later date.

Time Machine week 101

Today is January 3rd, 1972.  At 1:30 AM, President Nixon called Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula- whose team had just blanked the defending Super Bowl champ Baltimore Colts 21-0 to go to their own first Super Bowl- and gave him a play featuring Paul Warfield to run in next week's Super Bowl against Dallas.  (The play was used;  it was broken up.)  Later on, Nixon's nominee to Hugo Black's vacated Supreme Court seat, Lewis F. Powell, was sworn in.  The article I found made a point to mention, "and began drawing his $60,000 salary as a government employee".  The current associate justices, at least as of 2009, receive $208,100; which amounts to a $4002 raise every year.  Now I haven't been working 37 years yet;  but if I got a $4002 raise every year, I'd be making $119,024 right now.  Just saying.

Damn it, Henry, I thought that would work...

Welcome to a singular and not very special Time Machine as we welcome the New Year and ramp up for the stay-tuned-for-time-and-date-in-your-area Beauty Contest III.  This week: what you didn't know about Apollo 100; the Singing Dogs; a bad week for top 40 debuts, birthday songs, and a brand-new mini-feature; and a six degrees that starts with a Three Dog Night and ends with Radar getting slaked.  What?  You'll have to read on to find out!

We lead off with the one thing that will be full-size this week- the tops of the other charts!  Let's start in France, where a song called L'avventura by a husband wife duo known as Stone and Eric Charden.  Eric Charden was the son of a French father and Tibetan mother, born in Vietnam just for a bit of spice.  His wife, who took the stage name Stone, was born Annie Gautrat, and met her husband while competing in, of all things, a "Miss Beatnik" contest.  The duo became huge in France after L'avventura, hitting #1 three more times and the French top ten a total of 9 times. 

And Annie "Stone" Gautrat is the first sign up for the 2015 beauty contest!

Australia and New Zealand both have Imagine at #1 this week; Germany and South Africa both still have a week of Mamy Blue to go; the Netherlands still have How Do You Do at the top; Switzerland is still topped by Soley Soley; Ireland has yet another of their showbands at the top- this time it's Larry Cunningham and the Country Blue Boys with Slaney Valley.  UK still shows Benny Hill at the top, and Canada with Family Affair.

Turning to the local US charts, both Minneapolis stations, along with WLS in Chicago and CLKW and WKNR in Detroit have American Pie at the top; KQV Pittsburgh still has Once You Understand at the top; and KHJ from Los Angeles has Brand New Key on top.  WCFL went with a year end 1971 chart this week, and KDWB Minneapolis becomes MIA.  The three subcharts remain the same, with AC topped by An Old Fashioned Love Song, R&B with Family Affair, and Country with Kiss An Angel Good Morning.

This week's Cashbox chart has eight debuts, of which I'll feature 4.  At 100 is the Bach take-off Joy by the band Apollo 100.  Put together by Tom Parker, who also arranged Mac And Katie Kissoon on their version of Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep, among the players were drummer Clem Cattini, who was also the drummer on the Tornados 1961 #1 Telstar, as well as guitarist Vic Flick, who was lead guitarist on the world famous James Bond Theme, first introduced in the 1962 film Dr. No.  He also played on many a well known hit, including most of Tom Jones' big hits, as well as Los Bravos' Black Is Back.

At eighty-three, Joe Cocker hits with Feeling Alright.  As this is one of his few songs I can abide, I'll refrain from noting his similarity to the next act, the Singing Dogs.  They hit at 72 with their take on Jingle Bells.  Conceived and mixed by one Don Charles, this was actually part of a b-side they had in 1955 with their a-side hit Oh, Susanna, which hit #22.  The song was cut from a medley and re-issued (and wiki messes up and has that re-issue at 1973).  The "singers" were Pearl, Dolly, King, and Caesar; they were joined in '56 by Pussy, and recorded another tune, Hot Dog Rock and Roll.

Top: Pussy, Pearl, Dolly.  Bottom: King, Caesar.

Finally, the highest of the notable debuts belongs to Rod Stewart and the Faces with Stay With Me.  That brings us to the birthday songs this week, and I have the sad duty to announce that we have hit a new low there- only THREE birthday songs.  The 30 and 35 weeks, Cashbox took the week off;  at 40, Redbone hits with Come And Get Your Love; turning 45, Johnny Cash and Daddy Sang Bass; and turning 55, Annette Funicello and the Afterbeats (who have been lost to history) with Tall Paul, the first top ten female rock and roll song.  Blow out the candles (but not too hard)...


The big mover is (barely) in the top 40; the big dropper, falling 30 from its peak at 56, is BB King's Ain't Nobody Home, from the lp BB King In London.

Our 45 at 45 belongs to the Harper Valley Mom herself, Jeannie C. Riley, and is called The Girl Most Likely.  This would be her peak on CB, beating her Billboard peak by ten.  It was a #1 country song, though, knocking birthday tune Daddy Sang Bass out of the top spot.  It was co-written by Margaret Lewis, who hit the hot 100 on her own with an answer to Bobby Goldsboro's Honey, called Honey (I Miss You Too), in 1968.

We rack up just 2 top 40 debuts this week.  The first, claiming the big mover slot with a 60-to-40 jump, Three Dog Night with a song that will feature in the upcoming six degrees, Never Been To Spain.  The other, just a little late, is John Lennon's Happy XMas (War Is Over), jumping from 42 to 36.  And if that's not disappointing enough, I decided that starting this week, I was now going to announce any top 40 song that begins it's descent that week- kind of an "almost but not quite" with out the subjective choosing of who gets mentioned.  And outside of the top ten, only one song begins its descent this week- Neil Diamond's Stones, falling from 13 to 18.  It stopped at 14 on Billboard.

I should mention at this point the "Id Like To Teach The World To Sing" race.  While the Hillside singers managed to creep up 3 to #26, it was the New Seekers that took the initiative, climbing 11 to land at #21 and in the lead.

Two songs enter the top ten, two fall out.  The droppers are Respect Yourself (10 to 13) and Have You Seen Her (9 to 14).


And right off the bat in the top ten, our six degrees victim.

An Old Fashioned Love Song (dropping from 4 to 10), I believe I mentioned in the past, was written by Paul Williams with The Carpenters in mind- but Richard rejected it.  So it was given to Three Dog Night, who put it on the lp Harmony.  It was the first single; Never Been To Spain was the second.  Like Joy To The World, it was written by Hoyt Axton.  This time, I branch off to another of his compositions, Greenback Dollar, which hit #21 in 1962 by the Kingston Trio.  This was after original leader David Guard resigned and was replaced by John Stewart.  John went solo in '66, but didn't achieve pop stardom until the late 70s with Bombs Away Dream Babies, which had his big hit Gold with Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac helping out.  Another voice on that song was Mary Kay Place, who had many credits (starring on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, co-writing on M*A*S*H), but my favorite credit of hers is when she played on M*A*S*H Lt. Louise Simmons, who was the one who "slaked" Radar after a bit of poetry reading.

"You don't give a girl a chance, do you?"

Donnie Osmond takes another remake into the top ten.  Last time it was Steve Lawrence's Go Away Little Girl; this time, it's Freddie Scott's Hey Girl, climbing a pair to #9.

Al Green leaps 7 to #8 with Let's Stay Together.

Dennis Coffey moves up another spot to 7 with Scorpio.

Sonny and Cher also move up a notch to 6 with All I Ever Need Is You.

Sly and (some of) the Family Stone slip a pair to 5 with Family Affair.

David Cassidy edges up one to #4 with Cherish.

Melanie roller-skates down two to #3 with Brand New Key.

American Pie is at #2 this week, a 4-spot jump.

And at the top this week....

Michael Jackson and Got To Be There!  I guess he got there, LOL!

Next week?  I don't know, tune in and see!

New Years leftovers

Last night was two episodes of Soviet Storm, finishing watching Oz The Great And Powerful, drinking three craft beers* (and keeping Scrappy outta my hair with same), and the incredible 2nd half of the Texas A&M/Duke game.  Followed by the last 20 minutes of four of the most boring New Years Eve shows in the history of mankind.  I even tried the MSNBC Anderson Cooper show for a bit in desperation.  I wasn't near drunk enough for any of them.  I celebrated the New Year by making an omelette and going to bed.

Didn't even do my usual "A Long December" marathon.  Guess I just wasn't depressed enough for a change, though God knows Ryan Seacrest did his best.

* For the story on the craft beers, see my reply to Nain on the previous post.

Today we were supposed to be totally swamped with snow.  We got a 1/4 inch prior to midnight (last year), and today it snowed about another 1/4 inch starting at 9 AM.  We were then supposed to have a brief lull before "total accumulation of 2 to 6/3 to 5/ 6to 10 inches" depending on when you listened started in.  That began shortly before Laurie toddled off to work (shortly before the Rose Bowl kicked off) and despite being pretty consistent ever since is only halfway from index fingertip to first knuckle some 4 hours later.  Scrappy and I have taken two short and relatively uneventful walks, and we have dozed through some of Nebraska/Georgia, totally ignored Sparty/Stanford, and have one ear fixed on UCF/ Baylor.

And I got around to answering comments at last.  My last 7 posts have drawn 43 comments other than replies, and half of those were on the 50 Days Of Pray blog fest.  That's a lot of "Thank you and Merry Christmas"s to copy and paste, so I tried to be actually answering each one rather than saying the same thing by rote.  Thus, I had two-and-three day old comments to get to, many from the blog fest, which meant I took the time to go back to their site, make sure I knew what they had posted, say "All right, the person that wrote that", and do an actual effort.  It was interesting to see the variety of prayers, wish lists, poems, year recounts, and other articles that came from the whole thing, and I hope each and every one of us drew a blessing from it.

Then I just toddled over (that seems to be my expression of the year) to Jo-Anne's Ramblings and saw her latest "We Want To Know Wednesdays" link-up (Go click on the link above to get more details, please).  And this week they had some interesting New Year themed questions.  To wit:

1.) Do you have any New Year’s traditions?
2.) Resolutions: make them and stick to them or forgo them entirely?
3.) What is one thing you want to see happen in 2014? (For you or in general)
4.) What do you have coming up in 2014?
5.) List three things you did in 2013 that you’d like to avoid in 2014.

1- I did; the annual "A Long December" Marathon I mentioned earlier.  Not this year... I guess there really is reason to believe that this year will be better than the last.

2- I did mention something this year about perhaps I should break my old resolution (of not making any, good for the last 30 years or so) and do a new one.  Instead of spending half a day arguing with atheists on Facebook and elsewhere just to have it end with me saying, "I'll pray for you," and ignoring their "No, don't do it, I'll melt" reply, whenever I feel the urge, I'll just start out with, "I'll pray for you" and leave it at that.  Nowhere near as satisfying as watching them progress through "Christians oppress the universe", "Christians are the main source of hate in the world," "You'd be pissed if they taught Thor and Odin in schools", and the inevitable double ended arguments, but certainly wastes a lot less time.

3- Geez, that's a good one... I'd like to see NOBODY have to go bankrupt over Obamacare; I'd like to see a delegation of our civic leaders of color give up on the "let's have a block party to promote peace" approach and march into a gang meeting and say, "Turn in the guns, flush the dope, get off your ass, and get a job";  I'd like to get around to getting that big binder to put the latest pages of my beer cap collection in BEFORE I need 2 of 'em; I'd like to see the friendly family of deer we had 2 years ago return to our woods this spring rather than the stuck up lot we had this year;  I'd like to see Scrappy enjoy the bark park without a) coming home like he just ran a marathon, and b) without having to hump every dog bigger than him to prove he still has the two things he hasn't had in years;  I'd like to be a better and more obedient Child of God than I was this year.

And Thor: The Dark World.  I wanna see that, too.

4- Probably not much.  Any way you want to take it.

5- Hmmm...  Get frustrated to the point of yelling; Getting teeth pulled, no matter whose but especially mine;  Drafting Ben Rothlesburger and Phillip Rivers on the same team- especially the KCAs.

And now, time to get into some cold Pizza Hut and watch the rest of the game.  Here's hoping your New Year is a happy and blessed one.