For free is a big zero.

Today's Tids Issue 4,265

Cold is invigorating:

I think I’m finally inured

To this weather absurd.

There’s no discomfort from cold

But after the recurring rains

My feet are growing mold.

If people are allowed to take from others without consequences, then others will be encouraged to do the same. It’s a geometric progression thing. And, it isn’t good.

The evening news is where they start by saying “Good Evening” and then proceed by telling you why it is not.

I was looking back at a lot of old photos yesterday, and realized I was a pretty funny looking kid. I remember back then often thinking that there was something terribly wrong with our Brownie box camera.

The Question:

It’s getting to the end of College Football season, and the Heisman potential winner is being debated as usual. Who was the first black player to receive the coveted award? Bonus: The US has experienced many tragic occurrences with huge death tolls. Name ten of the most spectacular, unusual excluding storms and military assaults.

The Headlines:

--Stocks Up; Hopes Are That Powell Will Seek Rate Relief; New Home Sales Down 8.9% in October; Consumer Confidence Remains At High Levels Though Slightly Down From Previous Month.

--Mueller Associated Activities Overtaking Business as Usual In Oval Office; Accusations And Denials Flying.

--GOP’s Cindy Hyde-Smith Wins Back Mississippi Senate Seat; GOP Now Holds 53-47 Edge.

--Trump Threatens GM Subsidies; Congress Says It Is Impossible For Him To Do It.

--GM Plant Cities Devastated By Closing News.

--Repubs Trying To Pump Energy Into Lame Duck Session.

--College Football Playoff Power Rankings: Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame, Georgia Lead For Top Four Spots. The rest -- Oklahoma, Ohio State, Michigan, Central Florida, Florida and LSU.

Did you hear about the guy who had an accident after swerving to miss a pine tree? Then he realized it was his air freshener.

GM may be learning why it is always a bad idea to take money from the government.

Is Manafort lying, or is the Mueller group angry because he didn’t give answers that met the objectives of their scenario against Trump? That is the question.

Bachelor excuse of the day: “You are dust and you will return to dust…” Genesis 3:19. So, why should I dust and perhaps upset somebody I knew.

GM is finally recognizing that it is good business to cease hanging on to old dinosaurs. They just have way too many sedans between Buick, Chevy and Caddy. Of course, this just didn’t happen. It is the result of mismanagement in the late 70’s and 80’s when knowledgeable industry sources described Their car line as being “Designed by Accountants”. One the earliest victims to numbers management was the decline in prestige of their iconic Cadillac. So here we are today with something finally being done, with too much stuff in the attic. Where are the American pickers when you need them?

The big paddle sale at the marine store was quite an oar deal.

Maybe the tech companies should open banks to service their online sales. 949 non-bank US companies hold $1.8 trillion in cash! The top five cash cow companies have $601B under the mattress, and every one of them is in the tech sector, accounting for a whopping 33% of the total! Zowie! They are Apple – $244 Billion, Microsoft - $139B, Alphabet - $102B, Oracle - $67B and Cisco - $54B. Need an iPhone subsidy?

The newest team tap dancing across America is Obama and Holder. It would behoove America not to become emotionally involved in their glib banter. Glibness and oratorical excellence does not the truth make. We call it the OH, OH show.

It won’t be long until we begin seeing Mueller documents and opinions not filtered trough CNN.

The Answer:

Ernie Davis was from Elmira New York and played for Syracuse U. Hews the heir apparent for the great Jim Brown. I had an opportunity to spend time in Elmira just after the early death of this fantastic player, and even better all-around human being, And  that’s what people of Elmira who knew him told me. He was the first black Heisman winner, and was chosen first in the draft by the Skins and immediately traded to Jim Brown’s Cleveland. But he never had the chance to make it as Leukemia took his life at 23. Bonus: the worst ever The San Fran earthquake of 1906 where an estimated 3,000+ died was the worst ever just ahead of the military Plane attack on the Twin towers. San Fran is just ahead of the Johnstown flood where we lost 2,209 good Americans. Other significant tragedies are the Sultana Shipwreck in 1865 (1,700), 1,700 dying in the 1980 national heat wave and 1,021 dead in the 1904 general Slocum shipwreck. 909 unfortunate souls met their death in the hard to believe Jonestown coercive suicide. 844 died in the 1915 SS Eastland shipwreck, 739 in the 1995 Chicago heat wave, 602 in the 1903 Iroquois Theater fire, 609 in the St. Francis Dam (LA) flood and 492 in the Cocoanut Grove fire in Boston in 1942. Today is the anniversary of that Boston fire, which is why I thought of this morbidly odd question in the first place. Sometimes we forget.  

The only thing that I ask for is earning the right to be citizens of the USA.

I have been looking for some good recipes for you all, remember, like we had from the Tids’ Chef’s corner over the years. But, frankly, I don’t even understand what new food innovators are talking about.

I had some great swordfish last night, grilled with all of those cool hatch-mark lines. It came with excellent rice and grilled asparagus. They wanted me to put a salsa conglomeration on top of it all, but I just asked for butter. It was perfect. Sometimes it is not necessary to change to enjoy perfection.

For dessert, We enjoyed a brisk walk home in the cold breezes off the harbor. It was great. I am inured.