Layng quietly in fields

Layng quietly in fields
Glstening lights

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

I saw a remarkable reflection of a deep red setting sun against craggy grey clouds. It felt like an omen.



Today's Tids Issue 3,481
Opening Stuff:

This is that time of the year when all of the green and red magic markers in all the of drawers and closets throughout the house, are dried up.

It’s not insignificant to the current USA political scene that after the Paris killings France’s Far Right party National Front has moved into a very powerful position winning 6 of 13 regions in Sunday’s vote and making the Sarkosey and Hollande parties very nervous. A rise in anti-immigration feelings coupled with a wave of Europe disillusionment fueled the rise of Marine Le Pen’s Party. Maybe The Trumpster is reading those tea leaves.

Want to stay current with US beer drinking trends? Check out these fastest growing beer brands: #1 is Modelo Especial followed by Rolling Rock (It was considered cheap dishwater when I was in college – “cheap” being the operative word), Stella Artois, Don Equis, Leinenkugel, Blue Moon, Pabst Blue Ribbon (?), Yuengling, Michelob Ultra and Bud-Ice. And of course hundreds of local craft beers all of the time emerging from out of work college grad bedrooms in Mom’s house. The ten beers people no longer drink are 10. Budwieser (Sales down 26%) and followed on the downward slope by Natural Light, Miller High Life, Tecate, Old Milwaukee, Milwaukee Best Light, Bud Light Lime (Ugh), Miller Genuine Draft, Milwaukee’s best and with a 60.4% decline in sales Bud Select.

The Question:
The Voice will drop 5 to pare down to the final four. What do you think are the Top Ten downloads last night on ITunes? Bonus: 35 years ago today a singer was shot down on the sidewalk outside his apartment. Who was he and name his top five songs. (How easy is that)

The Headlines:
--Stocks Down Nearly 150 Approaching Mid Day; Energy Stock Weakness Rattling Markets; Case Being Made For $20/Barrel Oil..
--US Officials Investigating $28,500 Deposit To Farook Account Two Weeks Before Killings; Money Came Through Utah’s WebBank.
--“Until the Government Figures It Out”, Trump Urges Banning Of All Muslim Immigrants.
--Ryan And Other Repubs Run Away From Trump Comments.
--Largest Destroyer Ever Built For US Navy Heads Out To Sea.
--Putin Seriously Concerned About Syrian Reports That The US Led Coalition Is Making Air Strikes Against Syrian Troops.
--Kim Yung Il Sends Message To Paris Climate Talks That NK Has Declared War On Deforestation.
--30 Boston College Students Fall Ill After Eating At Chipoltle.
--Fox News Suspends Two News Opiners For Spicy Rhetoric Regarding President; Former Movie Star Stacy Dash Says Obama Doesn’t Give a S*** About San Bernardino; Col. Peters Tells Audience That Obama is Afraid, “Is Such A Total Pussy…”.

Jordan Smith rose up and conquered last night on The Voice. But he wasn’t the only star among many very good performances. I particularly enjoyed Shelby Brown, and Jeffery Austin. Zach Seabaugh’s tender rendition of “The Climb” caught my attention too. Amy Vasquel was excellent. The more you see her the more you see one of the better singers on the show. I just get a little tired of her song selection. Emily Ann is pure country and she did a great job with a song that could have gotten away from her. Madi is still one of the best, I just couldn’t get into her song last night. Barrett was below average and then there is Braden Sunshine who was better than usual but still not as good as the top tier. Based on last night only I would pick for the final four Jordan, Jeffery, Zach, and Shelby and Emily Ann in the Twitter face-off -- With Emily winning. Based on overall consistency throughout the many weeks of show performances it should be Jordan, Jeffery, Madi and Emily Ann. But, this show in reality is a popularity contest and Shelby isn’t popular and Braden Sunshine is -- having, I understand, received a large amount of twitterizational support last night. Jeffery, as good as he has been, seems  lower on the popularity scale. That means that Zach could sneak in over him. The bottom three will be Barrett, Shelby and Zach. The middle three fighting it out for the the last spot in the  top could be Madi, Emily Ann and Zach or Jeffery. Yes the top three might be Jordan, Jeffery or Emily Ann…and Braden. It’s real close, except for Jordan after his performance last night. Hey, wait a minute, I haven’t mentioned Amy. Amy could be the dark horse knocking out any of the higher tier favorites except Jordan. It is a tight race.

The US government seems to be in existence primarily to bail out the inept and irresponsible. Wall Street and the RI Government come to mind.

It’s interesting to note that the name of Fox News Suspended commentator Stacy Dash’s most famous movie was “Clueless”.

As one Muslim said at a Wall Street rally against ISIS, “There are 1.7 Billion Muslims in the world. If we were all bad the world would be uninhabitable.”

Telanovela looks like a loser. But, you have to say it is a sign of the times.

Here is one man’s opinion of the ten worst TV programs of 2015: (Note, he cautions that some shows like Keeping up with the Kardashians are so bad they don’t deserve a mention of the worst list. Two other he puts in that category of too awful to mention are Criminal Minds and Family Guy). His ten worst are Backstrom (good actor awful storyline), The Brink, CNBC Repub Debate, Dugger Family Scandal Coverage, Hand of God, Marco Polo, Sex Box, Tue Detective (First season was Great), Truth be Told and Wicked City

Uber wants its drivers to be independent contractors which saves them tons of money in benefits, other typical employee costs, and even car buying expense. Yet the company requires them to wear uniforms and be “app-tly” on call through smart phones. I always thought Independent contractor was a good idea for both parties, but Uber’s aggressive steps in “contractor” control will probably ruin it for all ligit independents.

I was thinking while wandering yesterday that if Hillary ever got elected, the Secret Service may give her the code name, “Hellary”.

The Parking Lot: Chapter 34 continues.
    Nancy felt herself tense as the rumbling sounds of the launch seemed closer, Then she saw it from her concealed viewing point; the bow slowly slicing through the clear water. Fred’s eyes seemed to be looking at the other two who were scanning the shore.
 Suddenly, the man at the helm put the gear in neutral, and the thug aft, who still wore scars of the bomb Nancy had planted rose up and walked closer to the side near her. Nancy smiled at is appearance and his hobbling movement. It was good to release the tension.
   They were about ten feet off shore and directly in front of her eyes. Fred’s eyes swung to shore hoping, she thought, to see what may have caught Jerry’s eyes. He seemed as rigid as Nancy an been moments earlier. Jerry waved for the other guy to bring the boat closer.
   What could he be looking at, thought Nancy. He looked around and bent down, picking up a boat hook. He reached towards her and then she saw it too. A piece of paper was floating about four feet before the launch. Could it be something of hers, a telltale sign that there is somebody is on the island. Did something come looose from the pile she had in her satchel. That could be a dead give-away. She pulled the um form her back waistband., What was Jared , doing now she thought. She pressed a button on her phone that would alert him. She seemed to feel Jared’s anxiety and it bothered her.
  
The Answer:
The down load list may alter my opinions about the top four. The Top Ten (* = The Voice 12/7) now on the ITunes list are *Jordan Smith (Somebody to Love), Adele (Hello), *Jeffery Archer (Believe), *Emily Ann Roberts (9 to 5), *Madi Davis (Big Girls Don’’t Cry), *Amy Vachal (To Make You feel My Love), *Braden Sunshine (Amazing Grace), Justin Bieber (Sorry), *Zach Seabaugh (The Climb) and, surprisingly *Barrett Baber (Ghost). Bonus: Of course it was John Lennon who was hot on the sidewalk in front of his NYC apartment 35 years ago this day. His top songs are considered Just Like Starting Over, Whatever Gets You through the Night, Watching The Wheels, Jealous Guy, Happy XMass, Mind Games, Give Peace A Chance, Mother, We All Shine On and Imagine. Another survey of his “Most Popular” gives as #1 again - Imagine and then moves to Norwegian Wood, Revolution, In My Life, Instant Karma, Lucy in the Sky, I am a Walrus, Strawberry Fields, A Day In the Life and Mother.

The nice thing about Hunger games is that it is good over evil.

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