We are we, aren’t we.

Today's Tids Issue 3,996

For you, the whole you, and nothing but you:

Sometimes I look at my idiosyncrasies and think, yes, I am odd, but I am me. And what’s so pleasant about this is that some people actually accept me as being me. That’s good. I am comfortable in my me skin, and I certainly appreciate all of the differences in my friends who may not be like me, who are quite happy as they, as they should be being themselves. Sometimes it takes a while for some like they and me, to find out that who they and me are, is just plain Ok. Of course there are some who say “If you are not like me, how can you be?” And others think, “I don’t like being my me, so I will transform my me into thee. And feel happy being somebody else’s me. But, in the long run, the less we worry about who we aren’t, then we will be that much happier being us; who will love all of the other me’s who are exactly who they are.

“Maintenance Free” is often used a sales point for selling real estate and homes. To me it immediately says plastic houses with concrete back yards, and that is not very appealing at all.

The Moore thing is a tragedy for humankind, and at the same time a dilemma for Repubs. The GOP needs all the senators they have if they are to accomplish anything, and an Alabama Senator has always been a sure thing. They need all the Senators they thought they would have to at least buoy hope for passage of big transformations like taxes and healthcare, and to assure good judges going forward. That’s just for starters. So Moore is definitely looking like a slug who should step down. Which would make Charles Schumer very happy indeed. I don’t like making CS happy at all. So, that maybe that’s why some Repub senators are saying they will pass a resolution that would kick Moore out of the Senate immediately after he is elected, and then of course be in a position to appoint a GOP replacement. Politics is not at all like reality of laws and human respect.

So, you think you have heard it all…how about this one. A developer is building in Washington DC -- a “Liberal Activist Hotel.” Yikes! Holy disharmony, Batman!

The Question:

Quick now, match the three big Hurricanes of this past fall with the three major areas they devastated. Bonus: Phineas Fogg made it around the world in 80 Days. Who took that fictional feat as a challenge and made it around the world for real in 72 Days? Super Bonus: What are considered the “10 Best Movies of the 1950’s”?

The Headlines:

--Stocks Lower; Oil Prices Falling As US Ups Productions. GE Failings Weighing On Dow.

--AG Sessions On Hill Explaining Possibility of Special Council For DoJ Probe Of Clinton Foundation And Uranium One; In Light Of Moore Storm, Some Are Suggesting Sessions Return to Senate.

--Trump Intervention Helps Free Wayward, Pampered UCLA B-Ball Players From China.

--Despite Brains And Aptitude, Millennials May be Worse Off Than Parents.

--Tampa Serial Killer May have Struck For Fourth Time.

For Women’s College Basketball fans: UConn looks loaded. So, what’s new.

On The Voice last night, Jennifer Hudson and Blake Shelton had to cut their squads from 6 to 3. Good singers always seem to get lost along the way, but I have a hunch the coaches know who they want on their team before they hit or miss during the singing playoff. First, I was particularly happy to see Blake surprise us with a pick of Chloe, who has a voice I will look forward to (Although, I found last night’s “Time After Time” tedious.) I loved Red Marlow and his perfectly pure country singing. I also woke up when Natalie (Blake’s comeback kid) took over the house with her fiddling and singing. I would really like to see her for the rest of the show, but she didn’t make it. Brian Adams’ “Heaven” is a pretty good song so good lookin’ Mitchell Lee’s performance should have been a walk n the park. He walked into a stone wall. Kiesha Renee has got “It”! On Jennifer’s side. I woke up when Lucas started his jaunty efforts, but, while I thought he was refreshing, people who know music say he sucked. What do I know. Davon Fleming looks like the leader in the club house. And, Noah Mac has the young girl vote (I think he will get tiresome in a show or two.) I was surprised that JH took ShiAnn Jones over Chris Weaver. But it may be for variety as Weaver is a bit of a Fleming clone. So far, I’ll be voting for Red. I’m just a country boy.

US Bedrock company GE is fighting for a new life, and Wall Street is worried that $13 Billion isn’t high enough to buy a chicken wings restaurant chain!

But that’s change, isn’t it. One day your blood pressure is perfect, and the next day they change the rules and put you on stroke alert. I wonder what blood pressure medicine manufacturer paid for that survey?

Lately, through the use of cool computer graphics, environmental futurists are showing us maps of coastal cities underwater. Like this is something new. The Dutch have been dealing with it for centuries.

States and towns across then USA are becoming more and more bullish on the idea of citizens getting high on pot – because, simply   the tax revenue will be enormous. Headline: “Potheads fuel socialistic society.” What will be the next sin imposed upon the people for extra tax dough when the big tax at the gas pump is turned off?

A cartoon on the editorial page shows an image of Judge Moore standing before a young girl with a tablet of the 10 commandments in his hands: “Would you like to come up and see my etchings”. I think that says a lot.

For a serious Communist country, China is certainly looking most capitalistic leading the world in IPO’s. But then, whoever said that Communist leaders liked living in poverty to be one with their people.

I always wondered why Jules Verne didn’t spell Phineas Fogg – Phineas Phogg?

Up here in New England we’re saying good-bye to Red Sox Hall of Famer, super second baseman Bobby Doerr. He was Ted Williams Pal, and is remembered at Fenway as one of four in a statue called – “The Teammates” -- Ted, Dom DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky and Bobby. He was great one for a great bunch of 1940’s Sox teams. Sorry folks, sometimes you just gotta exalt your own.

I was thinking yesterday after I wrote that Tidlet on the decline of female singer music sales, that I must sound like an old guy who can’t take or doesn’t get the current music scene. But the more I reflected, the more I believe I was right regardless of age limitations. We are in a time when everything is short lived and that includes songs and singing careers. Pumping out songs just has to rely on some successful formula. So, differences must be manufactured through the look of a singer’s makeup and costuming and arrangements.  Then maybe I’m all wrong. Maybe all new tunes don’t sound exactly the same with a few variations, and my preconceived notions block it out.

Sometimes I find myself writing way too much about nothing important.

Considering all of the money hospitals and health centers pay for everything, have you ever noticed that they have the cheapest, roughest tissues available. If you didn’t have a red nose when you went into the doctor’s office, you will when you leave. Ouch! Where’s the Eucerin?

The Answer:

Th similarities of three hurricanes destroying vast areas so thoroughly that there may be confusion about which was which. Harvey found its enormous strength just before charging into The Texas gulf region and then Houston. Irma destroyed Barbuda and other Leeward Islands, Virgin Islands and St. Martin, Turks and Kakos. It overran the Keys before marauding on a broad path all over Florida, finally upsetting life in McDonough Ga. Maria came ashore in the southeastern part of Puerto Rico (After reopening wounds in other Caribbean Islands) and ripped open the heart of that country. Bonus: In 1889, using her well-known penname “Nellie Bly”, intrepid NY Times reporter Elizabeth Cochrane took the Jules Book as a personal challenge and made it round the world in 72 days. Bly was one of the all-time greatest investigative reporters. Super Bonus: The Top Ten 1950’s Movies are Seven Samari, On The Waterfront, Vertigo, Bridge on the River Kwai (though it was tedious), The Seventh Seal, Sunset Boulevard, Rear Window, Rashomon, All About Eve and Singin’ in the Rain. Some others are Some Lie it Hot (11), North by Northwest (12), Rebel Without a Cause (17) (Intro of James Dean, Sal Mineo, Natalie Wood), African Queen (18), High Noon (24), Shane (26) (My favorite), From Here to Eternity (32), American in Paris (47), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (48). Showboat was 90, Gigi 96 and Around the world in 80 days -- 93. My all-time Fifties favorite, “Calamity Jane”, didn’t make the top 120.

Just goes to show you that me being me, or you being you is special. We like what we like but are willing to understand that a lot of people like a lot of other stuff, too. Like movies and songs.

Well, enough about me. It’s really always all about you.