Opening Stuff:
I remember when I was probably 10 or eleven, wandering with a couple of friends from store to store downtown. Yeah, we walked many miles a day. Finding myself in the corner drugstore, my taste buds aching for some Dentine gum, I reached down only to find my pockets were bare. I looked around. I edged up to the candy display. My little hand slinked out of my pocket, to the Dentine and back in again. I looked around. Nobody was looking. I called for my buddies, let's go. Outside they were goofin off, like usual. "Wanna a piece of gum?" "Sure," they all said, "where'd you get it anyhow". I didn't answer, Then we started punching each other and doing stupid stuff. But my heart was now firmly affixed in my stomach. And it remained there for most of the year. I broke out in sweat every time I passed the store. Then one day I walked down town, alone. I breathed in deeply and walked back into that lions den, with my hands in pocket. I looked up and saw Old Mr' Elliot and the ice cream counter guy staring at me.They knew. I turned back to the door. But, stopped. It was time. My hand slinked out grasping a nickle. I looked around again and put it on the counter. Nobody was looking. I walked out whistling through dry lips. A little bit any how. Don't tell.
Who says Tim Tebow can't pass?
I will never understand the reasoning behind or get used to the phrase -- "The image in your rear view mirror may be closer than it appears".
The Question:
Time for Double Bonus day: 1. Did Michelangelo consider himself a sculptor or a painter? Which came first, "David or "The Sistine Chapel"? Who was his most important mentors? Give me one myth about the painting of the Sistine. 2. Name the three super hits by Little Richard. Little who?The Headlines:
--US Stock Futures Up Sharply On News Of Potential Progress In Europe.--Pearl Harbor Survivors Gathering There For 70th Anniversary Of Japanese Atrocity.
--Putin's Party Barely Sneaks By.
--New USPS Cuts Could Make "Two Day Or Worse 1st Class Delivery" The Norm.
--Merkel, Sarkozy still Seeking deal That Would Stabilize Euro.
--Clinton Avows USA Continuing Support For Afghan.
--Madonna Named Entertainment For SuperBowk Halftime.
One out of eleven people shoplifts something during this crazy "shopping" season. It costs business $190 Billion. Congress shoplifts something from the taxpayer everyday and it's up to about $15 Trillion. Petty theft is really not so petty.
While on the same general subject, there is no legal defense that bothers me more than that of many defense, celebrity and other, lawyers -- "It's only a misdemeanor".
Oh yeah, in case you are interested the 10 most shoplifted items are Filet Mignon's, Jameson Whiskey (Really, that's what it says), Electric Tools (Power Toothbrushes are tops as well as work tools), IPhone4, Gillette Mach 4, Axe (Men's deodorant - retailer can't smell thief coming!), Polo Ralph Lauren, Let's Rock Elmo, Chanel #5 and Nike.
If the American Revolution made America, then the War of 1812 made America great. Yet few people celebrate that every important war that put the US on the map as a power, and actually signaled the beginning of the current friendship between the US and Britain. Few people, except the cities and towns around Lake Erie, a burned out Washington DC, a bombarded Baltimore, a ehroic New Orleans and Rhode Island where we are building an official State Tall Ship, a teaching ship, named after the hero of the Great Lake - Oliver Hazard Perry. Some of the big battles of this largely forgotten war were the siege of Baltimore (Star Spangled Banner), Battle of New Orleans.
As far as I'm concerned, the best looking residential development in RI is Harbour Ridge outside of Wickford. It has rather amazing architecture for a residential effort, with all homes being entirely different except for two things -- quality and character.
The headline said, "Obama gets laughs at Kennedy Center Honoree Dinner." Let's see, the room is filled with leftist President fawning celebs, and he gets laughs for his jokes. How odd. How newsworthy.
Alas, the Post Office looks like it is cutting itself to irrelevancy. I always thought the USPS was a much better deal for package delivery than either UPS or FedEx. It was a product that always got there fast as promised. So the question asked is why can't the PO make money like those two services do. Easy, the USPS is mandated to deliver everything anywhere at the least possible cost. It is their charter to deal with inefficient markets.
Actually, old Ma Bell, the big "monopoly" everyone wanted to bring to it's knees, had the same mandate as the Post Office. They had to string lines to that lone farmer in in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma, while upstarts like Sprint cherry picked the most profitable connections -- major city to major city.
I'm looking at the South Carolina primary as the most telling of the early contests.
Over in Russia they say more and more people don't like Putin, but he and his operatives have successfully squashed, maimed the image, of any of the potential candidates and that there is nobody left to run. Sound familiar.
Word out of Massachusetts is that Scott Brown has lost his conservative super-supporters.
I don't get that giant drop in unemployment. The new jobs added report was a mere 120,000, which all experts agree is far below what is necessary to nudge the unemployment downward, much less the .5 drop! The WH immediately released a report about 0-Man's Jobs Act effectiveness. But later economists said "Not do Fast Politicians". The work force that gained 120k jobs also lost 315K who gave up looking for work. Also, BLS (Board of Labor Statistics) says " the civilian labor force participation had declined to 64%", another piece of statistical evidence saying more people were not looking for work. So, Charlie Brown, that's why that number looked weird.
Almost Near: Chapter 52 continues. --Audrey punched his arm lightly like she had been doing for the past months since they met. She did it reflexively as she had, but wasn't sure she had the same good vibes. He is a nice guy and always had that man-in-need appeal, she liked. But, his moods lately had been noticeably different, at least to a snoopy reporter.
"So, you still love me?"
"When was the last time I said I loved you?"
"Oh, just about never, but I got this feeling! Wanna sing!"
Now Audrey laughed, and loosened up a lot, giving him a little jab.
"So," she asked, "Don't you think this Dante accident was little bit coincidental?" She asked him, but didn't indicate that she believed that Samantha had absolutely nothing to do with it. In fact Audrey was starting to feel for Samantha's plight herself.
"I think it is awful that it happened. Dante seemed like a nice guy."
"Tell me about that locket you found?"
"That was a story about the past. I'd rather talk about us."
The Answer:
1. Donatello was Mike's second teacher, and probably his most important confluence. he considered him self a sculptor, which is probably why his David, 1504, preceded his best know painting achievement the Sistine Chapel,1508-1512. As opposed to popular lore, he painted standing up. What is also interesting about the Sistine effort was his use of a very vibrant color palette. This was revealed when during the 1980's restorers removed 470 years of accumulated crud. Things may have been brighter back in those days than what most paintings of the era reveal. Or maybe art was used to to counter the bleak! or not. 2. The throaty one's big three in the mid 1950's were Tutti Frutti (All Rooty), Long Tall Sally and Good Golly Miss Molly. A-wop-bop-a-loo-lop-a-lop-bam-boom!
Shop lifters and litterers. "Hey, I didn't do nuttin." What does your heart tell you?
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