It is my job.

Today's Tids Issue 3.553

Opening Stuff:

Are you familiar with Patrick Ferguson? You should be, he may have changed the world. Ferguson was a pretty good Scottish officer in the British military during the Revolutionary War. At the battle of Brandywine he saw two “Rebel” officers, one in hussar dress presumed to be the aide to George Washington, Casimir Pulaski. The other man, Ferguson was told later was probably George himself.  You see, Patrick had GW squarely in his sights, but refused to shoot a man in his back. When asked later if he had any regrets now that he learned it was The General, he said no. Interesting – Human civility keeps the dream of the new America alive.

Madness for sure, Department:

It is estimated that Americans will bet $9.2 Billion on the March Madness games. That amount of money could pay off the student loans for 262,800 members of the class of 2015!

I worked for a company once where the underlying theme was “It is my job.” In other words, all the employees took responsibility for getting things done regardless of their title or function. I was at the post office yesterday and asked the Clerk a simple question about passports. She smiled and actually started to answer, but a quick glance from the guy in the next counter stopped her desire to help a customer, cold.. “I’m sorry, sir, That‘s not my job.  You will have to wait until he is finished” she said nodding to the man next to her. Imagine if one of Bill Belichick’s tight ends was about to block defender, when he remembered that it was job of the tackle running behind him, so he diverted and went looking for is assigned defender. Chaos. “But coach, it wasn’t my job.” You have to wonder how many fewer employees the Federal Government might have if the people there would see happy citizens as their main objective.

An Irish priest was driving to New York and got stopped for speeding in Connecticut. The Trooper smells alcohol on the breath and he sees a wine bottle on the floor. He says, “Have you been drinking, father?” “Just water,” says the priest. “Then why do I smell wine?” The priest looks at the bottle and says, “Good lord, he’s done it again.”

The Question:

There are four “beaten down Internet companies” which analysts say are ripe for takeover. Who do you think they are? Bonus: The US is unhappier today than it was in 2007. In the new Global “Happiest Countries” report, which 5 countries are the most happy. Hint: One of them isn’t Libya.

The Headlines:

--March Madness Kicks Off Today; Corporate Production Expected To Decline.

--Kerry Agrees That ISISIs Committing Genocide; ISIS Is Actively Seeking Cyber-Attack Tools.

--US Jobless Bennie Claims Rise 7,000; 4 Week Average Claims Up.

--Expect Lower Stock Process For Day As Fed Fueled Rally Loses Steam.

--Boehner Says He Would Sport Paul Ryan Coming out Of  Deadlocked Repub Convention; Ryan Says He Is Not Interested; Trump Says His People Will Riot.

--Dems Think SCOTUS Fight Is Win-Win.

--Former Obama Campaign Manager David Plouffe Says Trump Is Viable and Could Easily Beat Hillary.

--Frank Sinatra Jr. Does After Cardio Event.

Did you read where an Atheist is suing to stop construction of a 240 foot high cross in Corpus Christie Texas? He sued because the mayor and government officials attended the ground breaking which was in violation of the Texas Constitution. Think about it – He is suing a preacher over a cross being erected on church property with no government funding in a city named Body of Christ. Happy Easter, everybody!

I think we need more tall crosses.

I thought Lavonda’s buttermilk pie looked good. Onto an unbaked crust (See recipe at end) in a nine inch pie plate, pour an electric beater mixture of  3 eggs, 1 ½ cps (300g) sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/3 cp buttermilk, ½ cp melted and cooled butter, 1 tbs flour and a pinch of salt Dust with sugar and bake for an hour. Who knows you may want to top with fudge, caramel or warm berries. You make the “Sweet Pie Crust” by lightly beating together ¼ cp softened butter and ½ cp superfine sugar. Combine into butter sugar 1 small egg, 4 drops van extract and 1 ½ cps flour. Mix until dough just comes away from bowl. Do not over mix. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate 30 mins, or better, over night. Before rolling to 1/8” thickness, gently knead the pastry.

I’m rooting for Holy Cross to go all the way in the NCAA‘s.

Why do all TV shows these days insist on preaching to us about social issues. It is actually as laughable as it is annoying. Last night in a new show about tracking down Americans lost in foreign lands, the tension is high with the star team is in the Bangkok police station with little time to spare to find town missing students before an enormous Typhoon hits. After a rocky start with the Thai police officer, one woman on the team turns to the rest and rails about how slow they are here in putting woman on the police staffs. It happens all of the time on all shows now.

I have to thank Trump for one thing. He backed out of the next planned debate and Fox cancelled it.

If Garland is confirmed to the Supreme Court, The court will be made up of 5 Catholics and 4 Jews. Remember when what seemed to drive the country was something called the Protestant Ethic?

Chicago White Sox player, a good one, used to bring his son, a good kid, to the clubhouse. The GM told him, Adam LaRoche, to cut back on bringing his son which, something he had been doing for years. Laroche decided to retire from baseball and spend full time with his family. It’s nice that LaRoche is good to his children, but every day is a little too much. Of course the real problem is that Laroche batting numbers last year were terrible.

I think one annoyance to me in this new society is group texting or Conversation Emails. But then I guess that is what FaceBook is all about, and probably why I’m nt in it.

The Answer:

You may have guessed that Twitter, LinkedIn, Yahoo! And Groupon are in the sights of take over companies. Bonus: It may be that people who live in cold climates are happiest. Denmark is the happiest. Next is Switzerland followed Iceland, Norway and Finland. Sweden and Netherlands are right behind.

TS Eliot once wrote, “Decide what you think is right and stick to it.” Hmmm, and parents wonder why teenagers are so difficult.

Happy Saint Patrick’s day, everybody!