Lessee.... which child to clobber first... maybe KC...
Pet robot dinosaur...
Lilly got makeup stuff, art supplies, and a whiteboard/chalkboard easel... Aaron got a sci-fi game/book, the dino, and the big hit of the night, an air-hockey board...
and, of course, clothes...
A book on the Israeli air force and how they saved the nation for me- SCORE!
And this thing that Isaiah got was a rideable lion whose mane lights up and spins a bunch of balls. More balls can be fed into his mouth and shoot out a door in his chest.
But the highlight for me was the bag of duplo blocks we got Peanut. He sat down by himself, oblivious to further chaos, and played with them... I joined him minutes later, and we spent a bunch of time just "talking" and taking blocks apart.
A far less enthusiastic re-enactment of Aaron's reaction to the hockey game. KC set it up in his bedroom and several games ensued... with KC proudly claiming victory every time, show-off!
Later, while Peanut and the ladies continued Duplo play, I re-established a tradition. Years and years ago, when I was about Aaron's age, my Dad came home from work with pants that had gotten ripped- so he had me rip them the rest of the way off. Eventually he was left with a laughing kid and a fabric-covered belt. Last night, I grabbed an old t-shirt under my sweat shirt- and during a break in the action, had Aaron and Lilly rip IT off! Once they grasped the idea of grabbing the hols and ripping (instead of grabbing the collar and choking me), they had a blast, screaming and tearing and warning each other, "Don't touch the armpits!" Afterwards, I celebrated their victory by going back out to the living room, catching my foot on the baby barrier, and falling flat on my face!
Don't worry, I was not hurt... earlier in the day, I had done something to jam my left arm, and catching myself with my right hand and knee seemed to reverse it.
As the night wore on, Jessica gathered the older kids to distribute to parents/grandparents, and Isaiah started to fall asleep in Gampaw's lap. I handed him back over to KC (before he had TWO sleepers on his hands), and got that same ol' "Why are you going?" look from the little guy. I think he likes Gampaw...
Today we go to December 22, 1967- the day the movie The Graduate was first released. Which of course is a musical development because of the work of Simon and Garfunkel on it. But the three big songs that were on the soundtrack were each a story unto themselves. The Sound Of Silence was one of their first acoustic songs but never became a hit until a DJ overdubbed an electric guitar over it... suddenly it and they were big hits. Scarborough Fair/Canticle was the lead (but unreleased) track on their previous lp Parsley Sage Rosemary And Thyme, that got released as a result of being on the soundtrack. And Mrs. Robinson? At the time of the movie it was an unfinished tune with a working title of Mrs Roosevelt, and was missing a lot of lyrics (hence the "dee dee dee" at the beginning, that the movie producer loved), and wasn't actually finished (the soundtrack only got an abbreviated version, because that's all there was) until they went into the studio to cut their next lp, Bookends.
"So where did you THINK I was going?"
Well, I don't know, but thanks for sneaking Marilyn into the Beauty Contest for the second straight year, at the very last minute!
And with that, I have 11 of 12 semifinalists picked for the upcoming Beauty Contest! And you have ahead of you two great new M10 debuts, the Joe South chartbook, and a classic battle for the top spot between the two biggest bands of the year- and one of them is looking for a second POTM in a row! And for a change, I have no meaningless trivia so we might get done at a decent hour! So pull up a seat next to Anne Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman, and let's go!
"Maybe you could give us a minute... this idiot is no better hooking it than unhooking.."
Sure, Mrs R! Why don't we check out our first debut. This was a song that this act has recorded on their debut EP as Audrey Hepburn... but someone suggested that they try recording it the different, dreamier way they did it at their live shows, and now, under the new title Audrey (Spending All My Time With You) it is their new single! Coming in at #7- The Shacks (In a slightly less dreamy than the single live video!):
As you all know, the Monkees won the Presidency of this week's Time Machine, so they are here to give the Panel list this week! Welcome, guys!
Davy: Glad we could be here. Where are the girls?
Girls? Let me guess, Elvis said there'd be girls... Peter: Yeah, he said girls with big...
Guys... P: ...sandwiches. Do you have a deli?
Guys, first let me say, Don't listen to Elvis, he lies. Second, we had 83 stations, which is still a lot, but the number of contestants is down to 24 because two songs hogged over 51% of the vote! So what we're going to do is have you guys save those two for last... Mickey: And one of 'em is ours right? (Everybody talking at once)
Yep, so let's get everything in alphabetical order here... D: Oh, let me do that! Michael: No, you can't do alphabetical...
I'll do it... you four just read them, okay? P: Got it. The first one... D: Hey wait a minute? Shouldn't we read them in alphabetical order for US, too? Mickey: But if we did that, you wouldn't know when it's your turn! P: How about by height? D: I know when I'll be going then... Michael: Look, I'll do the first 6, Pete will go second, Mickey gets third, and Davy, you can go fourth. Mickey: So does that mean Davy gets to do the big two at the end? Because I wanna do... (Everybody talking)
Guys, a one-day show here. Davy can go last and do the big two.
Mickey: Ohhh kay... Michael: So we have first the Ohio Express with Beg Borrow Or Steal, which dropped off the Cashbox charts last week. Mickey: What kind of deal is that?
We call it "they didn't get the memo". Michael: Then we have the Fantastic Johnny C with Boogaloo Down Broadway at #10. Glen Campbell was at #29 with By The Time I Get To Phoenix... P: What? Michael: Which what? P: By the time you get to Phoenix, what? D: Come on, it's not Mike that's going, it's Glen Campbell. Michael: Hey? Davy, you are on my list! D: Really? Let me do it! Michael: Okay, here, give me one of yours... D: Not that one, that's one of the big two. Here, take this one... Michael: All right, next we have The Royal Guardsmen with Snoopy's Christmas at #13. Next, I have Dream Time by some outfit out of New Zealand called Larry's Rebels. Sound like a wild bunch, eh? And My last one is the Lemon Pipers with Green Tambourine at # 62. P: That would be me, next. I have... no, that's the other big one. Here Davy, give me one of yours. D: Here, try this one. P: Okay, I have Gary Puckett and the Union Gap at #7 with Woman Woman. Then, the Beatles with I Am The Walrus, which is the flip side of one of the big two, at #48. D: Shouldn't I have had that one, too? P: No, because it wasn't that big. And besides, I already did it. Anyway, Gladys Knight and the Pips are next with I Heard It Through The Grapevine at #4... Mickey: I thought Marvin Gaye did that. P: Well, yeah, him too. And CCR will do it too. Michael: Who's CCR? P: I don't know, I saw it on one of Chris's screens while he was banging his head before.
I WAS NOT... just get on with it.
P: Smoky Robinson and the Miracles were at # 3 with I Second That Emotion. The Small Faces were at #81 with Itchycoo Park. And my last one is a local act who never charted anywhere else, Jon and Robin and the song I Want Some More. Mickey: Mickey: Thank you, and good morning ladies and gentlemen... Michael: It's not a news show... Mickey: I can do it anyway I want, right, Chris?
As long as you get my name right, I don't care anymore. Mickey: Thank you. My first song is Judy In Disguise by John Fred and his Playboy Band at #17. I'll bet HE's got girls... Next is the Hombres at ... well, they peaked in November... with Let It All Hang Out. Then came Little Becky Lamb and Little Becky's Christmas Wish. This was a real little girl's letter to her brother in Vietnam, and it was at #69. Then comes Wayne Newton...
"Yes! I'm Back!"
Wayne, out! Get out!
... with Love Of The Common People- which seems to be in short supply here- which peaked at #106. Didn't get much love at the record store either. The Bee Gees get a vote for their hit Massachusetts...er, (The Lights Went Out In) Massachusetts... at #14. Should this have been Davy's? P: Naw, he's got enough already. Michael: And none of them are in alphabetical order anymore. Mickey: And my last one is Human Beinz with Nobody But Me at #72. Davy? D: Okay, here's what you have all been waiting for- I was at #1 in Australia with a little tune called Dream Girl. Then I Have The Cowsills with The Rain, The Park, And Other Things at #5. Been a lot easier if they'd have just called it Flower Girl. P: Then it would have been Mike's. D: Henson Cargill was at #87 with Skip A Rope. Lulu's To Sir With Love peaked in October. And the last two- the big two- these are your choices to vote for. Either vote for the Beatles with Hello Goodbye at #2... (Everybody) BOOOO!!! D: or us with Daydream Believer which was #1! (Everybody) YAYYYYYY!!!!!
Mm? Oh, thanks, guys. So there you have it. Just for the sake of notation, Snoopy's Christmas got 3rd with 8.4% of the vote. So will it be the Beatles- or do I have to go through this again NEXT time? Light a candle for me and place yer bets...
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Here's your second debut- and it gives us 2 albums with two hits in this week's M10! One is Shilpa Ray's Door Girl; and at #6, from the lp The Details, here's Mo Kenney...
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So this week's 6D victim was Aretha Franklin's Chain Of Fools, on which Joe South was guitarist. Joe had a pretty good singing career himself, but was even bigger as a writer. In addition to ones you might easily know (which I will get to in a bit), he did one of Laurie's favorites- the flip side of his own biggest single- called Don't It Make You Want To Go Home. He also did a gaggle of charting hits, writing wise, for others, so here we give you the Joe South Top Ten:
10- Hush, Billy Joe Royal, #52 in 1967.
9- I've Got To Be Somebody, BJR again, #38 in '66. You begin to see the pattern here.
8- I Knew You When, Linda Ronstadt, #37 in 1982.
7- Same song, BJR version, #14 in 1965.
5 (tie)- Games People Play, his own big hit, #12 in 1968.
(tie)- Walk A Mile In My Shoes, also his own, #12 in 1970.
4- Down In The Boondocks, BJR, #9 in '65.
3- Hush, Deep Purple, #4 in '68.
2- Yo-Yo, the Osmonds #3 in 1971 (BJR got stuck at #117 back in '66).
And Joe South's biggest hit?
1- Rose Garden, Lynn Anderson! Not only did she top CB and the country charts in 1970, she also topped the charts in Australia, Belgium, Canada (pop and country), Finland, Germany, New Zealand, and Switzerland, as well as top five in the Netherlands, the UK, and Austria! All this with a song that, while at least three men had recorded and failed to chart, her hubby told her not to do it because "it's a man's song"!
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Stat pack time!
I knew a big 4-0 this week! Good on me!
The #67 in '67 was Al Greene and the Soul Mates -yes that's the Reverend Al with the original final "E" still attached, and two buddies in the recording biz that encouraged him to do it with Back Up Train. Unfortunately, this was the extent of his climb on CB.
The #101 was a buddy of the Fantastic Johnny C, Joe Simon, with a tune called No Sad Songs. Though he would have a couple of big hits later, the soul star only got to #49 with this one.
The UK #1 was one of the big two- Hello Goodbye. The other, Daydream Believer, was #7.
And finally, the big mover was the Animals with Monterrey- 29 spots from 76 to 47.
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And the remainder of the M10.
The Foo Fighters feel the squeeze, dropping from 6 to 10.
Brian Fallon edges up a notch with Forget Me Not.
Shilpa Ray also up one with SR's Got A Heart Full Of Dirt- a song she wrote in less than an hour after a record exec told her her new demo wasn't "hooky enough". She said, "You want hooks, I'LL give you hooks!" and this was the result.
You've heard 7 and 6...
Holding at #5 are the Strawberry Runners with Garden Hose.
Slipping a spot to #4 are Plume Of Feathers with Rhyl Love.
Mo Kenney reverses course and moves back to #3 with Unglued. Anything over 6 next week not only ties the mark for most weeks- it makes Unglued the biggest hit in M10 history...
Shilpa Ray gets held off another week with Manhattanoid Creepazoids at #2.
And that means another week at the top for...
...POWERS and Beat Of My Drum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And on top of the Panel this week? Well, my guests today got 22.9% of the vote, but the winner with 31.3%...
...the Beatles with Hello Goodbye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Next week, since many of you won't be paying attention anyways, will be just an M10 update, but be back the week after for the week-long countdown of the top on the M10 in 2017!
Wow, I didn't realize what a messed up battle this year was on my blog- but as the song says, "There's reason to believe that this coming year will be better than the last."
Far too many posts were spent fighting koolaid-sipping liberals, not because of my great love and devotion for Trump (which doesn't exist except in their tiny imaginations), but because they cannot accept reality or history. I believe I fought my last battle with my last remaining koolaid-sipping friend a few weeks back, when I found that explaining for the umpteenth time that equating ANYBODY in current US politics with Hitler or Stalin is showing a total disregard for both reality and history, was "invalidating" that person, while his making the point that he is "well-regarded by intellectuals" (AKA How dare you disagree with me, peon) was not a similar invalidation of myself. Difference being, I can take being called stupid, because it still leaves me with more common sense, but they could not accept that someone could reject their re-write on history. Truth though, is that the whole fight was leading me to want to say something I knew better than- and I said goodbye.
ANYway, that unfortunate year long battle with utter stupidity reflects heavily in my stats- and while I'm not going to quit fighting the good fight, I have my doubts that my opponents will be stopping by anymore. That said, let's look at the stats.
SimilarWeb says I am now ranked 7,394,364th in the world in blogs- 179,717 spots worse than last year. BUT, nationally I went up 1,881,499 spots to 1,392,734th. I have a feeling that that might be more because of a 40% drop in active blogs than anything I did, but that's just conjecture.
Not counting this one, I have posted 219 times so far this year. I have received/made 1,319 comments, roughly 6 per post. I have had 14,195 views, or roughly 65 a post. That includes a few heavily skewed posts- not near as bad as last year- that probably are the result of bored Russian spammers, one of which has been telling me all the ins and outs of the HVAC business on a 2012 post for the better part of a year.
I had thought to do another attempt at best comments- even started squirreling some away- but the battle between the "anybody I disagree with is a Nazi and coming for you" crowd and I broke my spirit on that fairly early. Just let it be known that unless you have been given the "stay on topic or I'll bounce you" warning, your comments are valued more than you realize. But I did make the annual top ten of most views/most comments, even if it's a mite early (because this is my one good chance to do so). So without further to-do:
MOST COMMENTED POSTS:
30- Coming Back Into The Sunshine, from Feb. 28th. This was one of those aforementioned battles, and one where the "stay on topic, Dale" rule was initiated.
21- Getting To Know You/30 Odd Questions Blogfest, from May 24th. This was my first real foray into a bloghop, started by a friend of Debbie the Dog-Lady. It was a lot of fun, and I met a lot of different people through it.
18- Life Approaches Normal 2017, Jan. 3rd. This was a New Year's roundup, including my grandson Isaiah (Peanut)'s 2- month birthday picture.
17- So The Battle Continues... from Jan. 24th. This is where a FB friend unfriended me because I called a crass "joke" a crass "joke". We have since made peace, but stay away from politics.
16- The Next Blog Button Revisited, from Valentine's Day. This is a sorta-annual thing I've done where I go to a friend's Blogger blog, hit the next blog button, and see what comes up. It can be great fun!
16- And This Is Why The Next Election Will Be A Landslide- And Why I'm Ignoring You, from Jan 16th. This one was a war over ACA and how soon we could pitch it in the dumpster. And perhaps the only one of the "battle" posts that had anything constructive come out of it.
16- Dumbasses And Hitler, from April 12th. Surprisingly, this one was not a "battle" post, but me raking former PressSec Sean Spicer over the coals for being no more literate on history than the "Trump's a Nazi" crowd.
14- Ye Olde Stats Page, from Jan. 2nd- last year's version of this post.
14- Blanket Statements, from June 12th- another battle post, wherein I joust with those who think saying, "you guys suck" is actually making a point.
And 14- And More Pictures... from Aug. 23, which was the picture post where Scrappy earned the title "Slayer Of Mushrooms."
"Yeah, I killed 'em- killed 'em dead!"
MOST VIEWED POSTS
294- Coming Back Into The Sunshine (a double winner, unfortunately).
280- And Now, Enough Pictures To Post, from June 27th. A picture post featuring, deer, foxes, and Scooter the Squirrel chewing us out for no real reason.
"I had my reasons..."
169- Fourth Of July In Pictures, from when else, July 4th. Due to only having a handful of pics that day, I threw in some (duly noted) from previous years.
159- The Lipitor Post, from Feb. 25th, where I discover the stuff I have to give up (yeah, right) since the Doc thinks my triglycerides needed shaved.
156- Let's Get To The Point, from Oct. 3rd. The Tom Petty Eulogy.
154- Hurricane Harvey And The Flood Of A-Holes, from Aug. 28th. The storm brings out the best- and worst- in the internet.
That was brought to you by the fact that inventory has given me the next day-and-a-half off, and next to sleeping in tomorrow, the best part is me and Scrappy get in a morning walk!
There are squirrels- and squirrel nests- all over the north end of the woods.
"Yep, someone spent last night here, too..."
Saying hello to the Big Guy.
Leftovers from the latest tree to fall near the trail.
C'mahn, get the picture! I ain't got all day!
When the sun got out from under all those wispy clouds, it warmed up 10 degrees and the wind died. Wouldn't think it would make so much a difference.
Hmm... need a shave...
Woody was yelling at us as we headed towards the creek. Wouldn't hold still so I could get a GOOD shot of him, though.
Action shot...GO!
But wait, I smell something down here...
He loves the old south trail. Walkers almost never use it, so he gets bunches of sniffs.
This was that old tree that I leaned against last summer when KC tried to show me how good a fisherman he was.
Not sure who built this (prolly a 'skrat), but he ducked underwater as we came up.
HEY! After tearing out the railroad-tie bridge they used to bring construction stuff across last year, they put in a new, real bridge!
I never noticed the silver plaques on the poles before. Among other things, it said the pole was 96 feet tall and weighed just under 4 1/2 tons.
This weekend I ran into several articles of note that I would like to share with y'all. I'm going to lead with the one that got under my skin the most.
As I have often said, al-Jazeera is the best source out there for straight news IMHO- but the op-eds? Wheeeeeew! And I read one of those this weekend, an interview with a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon named Mahmoud Mashwra . MM's family "fled Israeli oppression in the Palestinian territories years ago in hopes of a better life in Lebanon." Now I find that the need for that flight, and that oppression is quite as bad as all that- and please, wait for the next little while before you come at me with pitchforks- is a bit overblown. From separate articles I pass on these little tidbits:
- Over the past few decades, Arabs in Israel have steadily improved their economic lot and strengthened their civil society, securing a prominent place in the country’s politics in the process. (this from an article in Foreign Affairs magazine, with the caveat that this has been somewhat rolled back by the Netanyahu administration.)
- As recently as 2013, roughly three-quarters of Israeli Arabs (74%) said a peaceful two-state solution was possible. As of early 2015, 50% say such an outcome is possible. (From a Pew Research article.)
So does that mean that things are peaches and cream for Palestinians that hung out in Israel? C'mon, I'm not that much of an apologist. HOWever, juxtapose that situation with the situation MM and the article describe in Lebanon.
- Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are treated as second-class residents, restricted from working in most fields, banned from owning property, forced to live in run-down camps and barred from formal education. - Palestinians cannot own businesses in Lebanon and are banned from most decent-paying professions, including medicine and law. An estimated two-thirds live in poverty. The government will not give citizenship rights to Palestinian refugees, for fear it could make them stay forever.
- Unlike Lebanese citizens, Palestinians cannot obtain free treatment at hospitals. They are also barred from most public schools. UNRWA has opened 67 schools and 27 clinics in Lebanon, but the clinics are only for general check-ups, while refugees with serious illnesses, such as cancer, must seek help from other NGOs.
Lovely life, right? But wait, it gets better:
Today, Palestinians are competing with nearly two million Syrian refugees in Lebanon for jobs and aid. And that shouldn't be that bad a thing, as the almighty UN is funding aid for both groups, right? Alas, read on:
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) deals with aid for Palestinians, while the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) covers Syrians - and the difference in the aid provided is stark. UNHCR gives 150,000 Syrians in Lebanon $175 a month per family; UNRWA, however, can only give 61,000 Palestinians $10 for each family member every three months, spokespersons told Al Jazeera. And why, pray tell, would the almighty UN run such a divergent aid scale? Well, I'll tell you why, and it's going to involve a direct accusation such as I have rarely leveled at any person or organization.
Because, my friends- the UN doesn't need the Syrian refugees to suffer- unlike the Palestinians. Because a happy Palestinian gives them less leverage in their eternal, Muslim-butt-kissing, anti-Israel agenda. Palestinians need to suffer for Israel to look bad.
But even though it is the Palestinians who chose to leave, the Lebanese government (aka Hezbollah and Iran) that gives them no rights, and the UN that won't help them, who do you suppose they blame?
Of course, their problems are all because President Trump said that a sovereign nation's capital should be decided by that sovereign nation and not the shameless cowardice of the rest of the world.
"After what Trump said, it's like we died," Saaf (another interviewee) said. "We lost hope. I'm sad for the future of my kids. I don't want to have any more kids, because I'll just destroy their future." Thousands of Palestinians have held demonstrations across Lebanon over the past week, including one in Beirut on Sunday that turned violent. Protesters threw rocks and set rubbish cans on fire outside of the US embassy, while Lebanese security forces fired tear gas and water cannon into the crowd. At another protest in the capital on Monday, demonstrators chanted: "Death to America! Death to Israel!" "We don't accept Trump's decision," Ali said. "So we will fight." And that is the kind of nonsensical non-logic that we have heard against everything Trump has done in our country since he set foot in office. It isn't on Trump; it's on the Palestinians. They had how many centuries to turn the land into anything close to what the Israelis have and did nothing. The other Arabs know them for the welfare cases that they are and have no intention of giving them any reason to stay. And they are the perfect unthinking pawns the power brokers at the UN love.
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That rant over, I have another (shorter one that attaches itself to what is actually a pretty funny story. This one comes from an NPR article (see? any idiots out there that want to bash me for listening to "FauxNews", this starts from YOU guys!) The article is about how "Dr. Catrin Wigley at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust and colleagues analyzed six National Health Service patient information leaflets from across England for total hip replacement ", and what they came up with was, to me, damn disturbing- but I want to save that little bombshell for later.
What they did, though, was a bit of genius.
The researchers recruited 57 nearby elementary school children ages 8 to 10 to help revise the content. And some of the changes were hilarious. I'm going to share some of what the kids came up with. For the full monty, go here, but wait until after the bombshell.
INDICATIONS FOR SURGERY:
Richard: Because your hip bone is part of your legs, and without your hip bone you will flop around.
Jaime: Because yours is rotten...it's past its sell-by date.
COMPLICATIONS
Mohammed: You could die!!!!!!!
Jaime: The surgeons might accidentally make a mistake and cut out the wrong thing.
Sarah: Set off metal detector...
PRIOR TO THE PROCEDURE
Lilly: What is not allowed - Coca-Cola, fries, chocolate... stop eating foods that are hot, when this happens go to the doctor.
Amelia: Stop smoking or your blood will turn black.
THE PROCEDURE
Ava: We are going to cut the side of the muscle with a sword and put the metal thing inside after we grate it and put cement inside. Then stitch.
Okay, so are you ready for the bombshell? This came right after the first quote and "total hip replacement"...
...and found that the average readability level was age 17, even though the average Brit reads at a 4th-grade level. Good Lord, I read at a fourth grade level in FIRST grade! Are they serious that the fate of the Empire on which the sun never sets rests in the hands of a bunch of people still stuck on "Judy, John, Jean, Spot and Puff?"
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Next up, 24/7 Wall Street named off the 19 worst companies to work for based on average employee reviews. The vast majority are off site customer call centers, including the #1, who has among their clients "50% of the Health Care Services in the US". I thought I might let you in on some of the ones you might actually be aware of...
19- RGIS Inventory Services
18- Jo-Ann Fabrics (!)
17- (Bob, you'll love this!) Frontier Communications
15- The Children's Place
14- LA Fitness
12- Brookdale Senior Living
11- Dillards
10- Xerox (!)
9- Rent-A-Center
8- Hertz (the article points out that other rent-a-car companies score significantly higher)
6- Dish Network (HA HA HA HA!)
5- Sears (does THIS shock anyone?)
2- Kraft/Heinz (less than one in four employees approve of the current CEO. How will they ketchup?)
And that #1 I mentioned before is called Alorica. So next time you have a call center problem, just ask the server, "Are you with Alorica? You poor dear."
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And finally, 19 must be the magic number today, because I have a list of 18 healthy habits to quit doing (plus a bonus. I took particular pleasure in this one.
-Using a standing desk: A recent long term study found no lessening of the odds of dying from standing as opposed to sitting.
-Using toilet seat liners: C'mon, you really think that armor piercing germs will break into your butt that fast?
-Eating low-fat food: "An eight-year trial involving almost 50,000 women, roughly half of whom went on a low-fat diet, found that those on the low-fat plan didn't lower their risk of breast cancer, colorectal cancer, or heart disease. Plus, they didn't lose much weight, if any."
-Using the BMI measure for obesity. Studies show that BMI has several holes in the theory that make it basically useless. Are you listening, Dr Wuest?
-Avoiding gluten. Unless you are celiac, you do yourself no good avoiding it. More idiot scare tactics.
- Almond milk. There are plenty of articles out there to tell you it is barely worthy of the name "almond", let alone "milk".
-Juicing. Because, dimwit, juicing removes the fiber you need and keeps the sugar you don't.
-Hand sanitizer: Soap and water kills more germs- and things like Norovirus are immune to sanitizers.
-Egg whites. " A growing body of research shows that for the vast majority of people, dietary cholesterol (from foods you eat) doesn't really have much of an effect on your blood cholesterol."
-Holding your breath after someone sneezes or coughs. People actually do that? Hahhahah!
-Mega dosing Vitamin C for colds: Again, this one SHOULD be old news. Your body takes in just what it needs of a vitamin and pees out the rest.
- "Ear Candling"- "The practice of ear candling — yes, ear candling — involves putting a lit, cone-shaped candle inside your ear." Supposed to help with removing ear wax, by what physics that would work IDK. Certainly seems a Darwinian population solution to me.
- Taking multivitamins- the article says most of us get what we need in our regular diet. I say, they haven't seen MY diet, so I'll keep on with 'em.
- MSG: This is the ingredient that supposedly gives you "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome". I love the article's take on this: " Eating too much, regardless of the amount of MSG, is the more likely culprit here." So back off, Tubby!
-Not cracking your knuckles: Studies seem to show no evidence that it hurts your knuckles, and every indication that it indicates that your joints are properly lubricated.
- Detox diets: "No one needs to detox. Unless you've been poisoned, you already have a superefficient system for filtering out most of the harmful substances you eat. It's made up of two toxin-bashing organs: the liver and the kidneys. " Again, seems pretty logical.
- Using a recumbent bike instead of a regular one: We have a recumbent bike. I can attest the only thing it does is destroy your knees.
- Avoiding the microwave. Brain surgeons of society try to tell you that nuking food destroys nutrients. No, heating destroys nutrients, and since you nuke something for a lot less time than you fry, roast, bake, etc, it stands to reason that you preserve more nutrients this way.
And the Bonus is on flossing. I'll just let the article, from Business Insider, close this out... The US government has recommended flossing for nearly four decades. But according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, a set of recommendations the agency sends out every five years, all of the recommendations have to be grounded in scientific evidence. And flossing is, well, not. In its report, published in August, the AP says it used the Freedom of Information Act to request evidence for the benefits of flossing from the Department of Health and Human Services. AP never received that evidence. Instead, it got a letter from the government acknowledging that the effectiveness of flossing had never been studied.
So today at work (I typed this last Monday night), I was listening first thing (as usual) to David Jeremiah as he told a story of his early days in Ft Wayne. It involved starting out with equipment that was legendarily crappy and ancient (kinda like what we get from our Missouri plant), and how one day a viewer from Ohio asked him to stop in. The man had a daughter in her twenties- totally confined to what was basically a crib. She never passed infantile level mentally or emotionally. But there was ONE thing in the day to day world she ever reacted to- Jeremiah's Turning Point program. In thanks for providing her one spark of life, the family bought Jeremiah all brand new equipment- so that now his clothes didn't "change color" every time he moved.
You get that? God used this woman-child, who might never have affected the world beyond her nuclear family- to bring the Gospel- not only in clearer form to Ft Wayne, but to grow that ministry into what it is today. How powerful a God to make such change from such a fragile shell!
And it made me think of my own ministry, if you like, on my Sunday Messages. Because in a way I am like that girl. I have not been the fully-developed Christian I should be. Perhaps not a baby needing the first "milk" of the word, but certainly far from where I should be. And yet, God shows that He can use me.
But it should be better. The topics I address are borne of the battles I fight, and the battles I fight have a lot more to do with my level of maturity and obedience (or lack thereof) than my closeness in my walk with Christ, or my oneness with the Spirit. Put another way, that girl shamed me.
I know that man's odds of me ever being where I should be are dim. And if you are an outsider, you'd prolly say, "Don't worry, you ain't no worse than all the other alleged Christians out there." Because from the outside, we seem to pretend to Godhood or at least sainthood. But here's the thing about outsiders: they don't read the Word and understand. It's just words to them.
If they did, they wouldn't have to go any farther than the historical books of 1-2 Kings and Chronicles. After Solomon, Israel was split in two- ten tribes abandoning Jerusalem for a bastardized faith, two holding fast to the true faith. Or did they? Look at it this way. The ten that abandoned the faith of Moses and Abraham, NONE of their kings walked in the way of the Lord. Not surprising; but what of the two tribes, the ones who held the legacy, who worshipped at the Temple? You would think the advantages that they had, the resources still available to them, the prophets sent day and night to them, that they would have done better.
But only HALF of those kings walked in the way of the Lord. And far fewer ever did anything to bring the people back to God.
Those were the Chosen People. And you expect that Christians of today, with Jesus a couple millennia back in history, could really do better?
We SHOULD. We have the Holy Spirit with us, instead of just with the occasional prophet or king, who could always lose that spirit if he did not obey. But guess what, still human. Still breathe, still bleed, still have the sin nature.
A couple weeks back, I wrote about Focus-Surround-Control. But I think perhaps control is a poor word for what we do. Control implies we have something to do with the ultimate success. Perhaps reliance would be better, because what "control" boils down to is making the choice to rely on God at the point of decision. Control says we weigh the rights and wrongs of a thing and make the best choice; but what it really comes down to is everything else vs "WWJD". And that I didn't stress that in those posts shows how very far I have to go before I get to where that young lady was, in control of nothing, but willing to be used as a tool in God's hands.
So today we go to December 15th, 1966- the day Walt Disney died...
"Yes, and I've been spinning in my grave almost ever since..."
Well, Walt, you can spin with us on Time Machine this week, and among the things that will make you spin are: so how many times DID the Beatles enter the Bubbling unders; a record gets tied on the M10- and what the record for the category is on Cashbox; and a carton full of silly named songs on that same chart this week! Plus another mammoth Panel list- 31 songs from 112 stations! Buckle up, and let's get spinning right into it!
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First I have shocking news- I made a mistake last week!
I'm sorry but it is true- I told you Tom Jones was #1 on the British charts with The Green Green Grass Of Home. But I think Bobby Vinton was fooling with the controls, as that tune was #1 this week in 1966, not '65! Panel contestant the Seekers with The Carnival Is Over was actually last week's top dog in the UK...
"And I'm still a bit cross about it..."
Look at it this way, Judith, it got me a chance to sneak you into the beauty contest at the last minute! Which reminds me: next week we'll still be on schedule, but the week betwixt Christmas and New Years will be but an M10 update, and the week following will be the top 50 countdown interspersed throughout the week, and the week following that will be the Beauty Contest 2018! So be here on the 22nd for 1967, the 29th for that week's M10, the 2nd through the sixth or seventh for the Top 50, and the 12th for the Beauty Contest- God willing.
So this week the Byrds are POTMs, and Roger McGuinn is here, and in a tip of the hat to the Mamas and Papas, we brought Barry McGuire along too!
Of course, we siphoned you two off from a little bit before that picture...
R; God, I HOPE so... B: Man, you aged... well... R: Yeah, sure Barry...
Okay, so you guys got your work cut out for you this week, so why don't we get started!
R: Okay, Bill, can I call you Bill? Our first song is Little Stevie Wonder with A Place In The Sun, at #16 on Cashbox...
Uh, My name isn't..
B: Then you got those whacky English guys- Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick, and Tich with Bend It. It peaked over here at #110. R: You knew those guys? B: Didn't everyone?
Roger didn't even know me...
B: Heck, he don't even know his own right name! Next comes Roger Williams and his elevator version of Born Free at #7... R: Wait, I do too know my right name! It's... wait a minute, I got it around here somewhere... B: Then we have Mitch Ryder and the Dee-troit Wheels with Devil With A Blue Dress/Good Golly Miss Molly at #4... R: Hey, let me read some a' these! B: You're too busy looking for your 1962 ID. Then comes The Seekers and Georgie Girl at #61 and tumbling. R: I got it now- it's Jim. Jim McGuinn...
And you forgot that?
R: Say listen, Bill, settle down. At #2 was the Beach Boys and Good Vibrations. Back off, Barry, I'm doing the next few. The Yardbirds were at #40 with Happenings Ten Years Time Ago. The Temptations were doing I Know I'm Losing You at #15. And the Monkees were on the list FOUR flipping times! The first was I'm A Believer at #10; the second was I'm Not Your Stepping Stone at #26. B: Then comes... well, the Monkees again with I Wanna Be Free, which was an airplay album cut. Peter and Gordon were next with that lovely little Lady Godiva at #5. R: Puts me back in mind of that Mamas and Papas thing... boy Cass woulda made a horrible Lady G! B: Yeah, but Michelle would've done fine... R: Yep, shame her old man was such a freak...
Um, guys... R: Right. Next comes a local band from Florida who barely bumped the charts, thanks to opening for the Beach Boys. They were called the Nightcrawlers, and the song at #106 was Little Black Egg. B: Sounds like you coulda used that one in your weird titles skit.
I thought about it. Believe me, they get worse.
B: So anyway, another low charter by another band your crack research team could find nothing about was an outfit called the Kit Kats with Lost On A Country Road, which peaked at #119. Donovan was at #3 with Mellow Yellow.. R: Quite rightly... then comes the Monkees again, with that silly theme song of theirs, which was also an airplay album cut. Then it's the Seekers again with Morningtown Ride, which would stop just outside the top 40 in March. B: Kinda neat how we can look ahead here and see how stuff would do later... I wonder how I did after Eve Of Destruction? R: I can tell you that without looking- you got Bupkis. Next up, Herman's Hermits get No Milk Today, and they won't get any until April of next year. Then it's time for the Normie Rowe Aussie special of the week- this week's tune was the hit, er, Ooo La La. B: Frankie Valli was soloing at #100 with The Proud One. The Royal Guardsmen with their Christmas-themed Snoopy And The Red Baron was at #57. Spyder Turner's cover of Stand By Me was at -well, it was on its way, and would peak in February. The Hollies were at # 8 with Stop Stop Stop. R: That brings us to sweet Nancy Sinatra with Sugar Town at #13. The Music Machine was at #29 with Talk Talk. Aaron Neville was at #21 with Tell It Like It Is. And Nancy's papa Frank was at #9 with That's Life. B:Bobby Moore and the Rhythm Aces were awaiting a late December Billboard peak of #97 with Try My Love Again. Another song for the funny titles bit is...
Hey, let me save that one for the bit later.
B: Well... okay, I guess it's your show. So skipping that one, we have the New Vaudeville Band and Winchester Cathedral at Numero Uno, oh, and I about missed the Supremes at #6 with You Keep Me Hanging On. R: You did miss it. He just did that Timey whimey stuff and fixed it! B: ...and that wraps it up for us!
Thanks guys!
R: No problem, Bill...
Sigh... anyhow, let's thin the herd, so to speak. Choose from this week's #1 (Winchester Cathedral), #3 (Mellow Yellow), #6 (You Keep Me Hanging On), #10 (I'm A Believer), and #57 (Snoopy And The Red Baron). I will tell you this much- the top two had a classic back and forth battle that gave them 46% of the vote between them! And those five collected about 69% of the total vote!
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So how many times did the Beatles pass through the Bubbling Under Charts on Cashbox? Well, if you guessed 10, you'd be right! (Although I don't know why you would guess that, unless you've been peaking at my notes...) They did it with the following songs:
I Saw Her Standing There: the b-side of I Want To Hold Your Hand, it spent three weeks in triple digits- 128 to 124 to 100- before falling.
Please Please Me: It did a pass-through at #144 before moving up 71 notches the next week.
From Me To You: yet another charting backside, it came in at #111 before jumping to #74 the next week.
Roll Over Beethoven: Stopped in at 110 before going up 35 spots.
You Can't Do That: The flip of Can't Buy Me Love, it spent a first week at 127 before clearing the bar- barely- at #97.
PS I Love You: this one left the biggest skid marks, starting at 140 before an 83-spot leap to #57.
Why (with Tony Sheridan): How this got in there IDK, but it got one week at 135.
Yes It Is: The back of Ticket To Ride, it came in at 112, and peaked at 107.
I'm Down: the b-side of Help!, it spent one week at 126.
And the one that got us asking about this, We Can Work It Out. It came in at 108, moved to 101 (where we found it last week), and then cleared 81 spots to #18.
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And this week's lone debut is no stranger- Brian Fallon hit a while back with the big hit Nobody Wins. His new lp, Sleepwalkers, is due in February, and the lead single comes in at #10.
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Stat Pack:
I knew 38 this week, including the big mover- contestant Aaron Neville's Tell It Like It Is, which made a 32-notch jump from 53 to 21.
The #66 in '66 belongs to a band who couldn't make up their minds who they were. In 1960, as the Videls, they made the hot 100 with Mr Lonely, which was a doo-wop record and not the same as the Bobby Vinton hit. Then as the Trade Winds, they made the top 40 with New York Is A Lonely Town. This week, they are the Innocence, and their hit was There's Got To Be A Word! which also snuck into the 40. All told, their various names had 5 hot 100s.
And since I gave out the UK #1 already (twice already, in fact), we wrap up with Lou Christie at #101 with the old classic Since I Don't Have You- which IMHO the Skyliners and Don McLain both did better.
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So the contestant we left out was an act whose main claim to fame was apparently that they once opened for the Stones- an act called the Bush with a tune called Who Killed The Ice-Cream Man? Now in my experience, if you find one such silly titled song, you are apt to find more that week. And actually this one never charted- but here are some that did this week.
Other than this first one and one I played for the fun of it, I didn't know any of these- but this one I love. At #28 sat the Association with Pandora's Golden Heebie Jeebies.
The rest collected anywhere from the mid-70's on down into the BU chart. We start with Dr West's Medicine Show and Junk Band with The Eggplant That Ate Chicago.
The comes Slim Harpo with I'm Your Bread Maker Baby. Slim better watch out, moulding buns is a felony these days.
Howard Tate (No relation to Larry) had Look At Granny Run Run.
Howard Tate, singer
Larry Tate, bewitched ad exec. Not related.
Ian Whitcomb, who actually had a hit with his band Bluesville with You Turn Me On, had one with his band the Seaside Syncopators this week called Where Did Robinson Crusoe Go With Friday On A Saturday Night.
"Hmm, looks like you might have to re-name that BJ Thomas longest song title award you used to give out."
Back off, Billy Joe, he only beat you by one word.
And we top it off with a tune from Detroit folk rockers the Spike Drivers, called Baby Won't You Let Me Tell You How I Lost My Mind. And yes, BJ, they beat you by two words, but you cleared them by three syllables.*
*BJ and I are of course debating his Hey Won't You Play Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.
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Oh, and no six degrees, but the highest without a Panel vote was Martha and the Vandellas and I'm Ready For Love at #11. That said, let's look at the rest of the M10.
#9 and only budging up a notch is neophyte longest title contestant Shilpa Ray and Shilpa Ray's Got A Heart Full Of Dirt.
#8 -brace yourselves- Dent May's Picture On A Screen. Losing his bid for #1, he says, screw you, Bill, and starts to fall in week #8.
#7 leads us to one of many anomalous pseudo-records I'm going to note this week. 9 weeks on the chart, the Derevs' Something Good falls one notch to #7. But that makes 6 weeks SINCE having been #1- a longevity record matched on the M10 only by Radiation City's big hit Come And Go from last year. Now the way music went back then, it's no surprise that Cashbox's Martin Era 2.0 record in this category came fairly early- 1956, in fact. The Platters held it at 9 weeks for My Prayer- until Elvis beat it 2 weeks later when Love Me Tender spent a 10th week in the top ten after leaving the top.
5 and 6 are a pair of two-spots-up songs- the Foo Fighters' Sunday Rain at 6 and Strawberry Runners at 5 with Garden Hose.
Mo Kenney becomes the biggest hit of the year so far and 6th all time with Unglued moving down just one spot to #4.
Last week's number one is this week's #3. And that would be Plume Of Feathers with Rhyl Love.
Shilpa Ray's other hit, Manhattanoid Creepazoids, moves into the runner up spot.
Now, this week's new number one makes it three straight #1s from acts getting their first M10 #1 after a previous charting hit. But what makes it different is that this act charted on the M10 3 times- and darn near a fourth- before hitting #1. Moving from #5 to the top:
POWERS with Beat Of My Drum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And the Panel pics?
Well, the Supremes got just 4.5 %...
Snoopy and the Baron just cleared 7%...
The NVB got 10.7%...
Donovan got 22.3%, enough to win most other weeks...
But the winner with 24.1%, your POTMs for next week...
...the Monkees and I'm A Believer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, next week, Kindergarten year 1967, leading into the holiday specials thereafter! Party on!
A lone man looking for means of expression in a tsunami of information. Seeking truth justice and the American way in the perspective of a Nixon conservative. And the Commissioner of the free world's smallest and best fantasy football league.
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