Today's Tids Issue 2,762
Opening Stuff:
 
The Big Game: --So the main question lingering in my mind post super bowl: "Did Ray Lewis really retire or will he come back to haunt us ad nauseum ala Brett Favre? --The game was good, but I have to tell you, without an inkling of feeling for either team, I was pretty inert throughout. --During the game I sensed that the Raven Harbaugh was the nicer guy, so I was pulling for them at the end. --Kapernack is going to be a player of the future. --I thought the blackout might have been a very cool maneuver by Chinese computer hackers. --My three favorite commercials were Audi, Jeep and Dodge. Paul Harvey does have the voice, Doesn't he? --The Sandy Hook kids were just great without Jennifer Hudson. Not that Hudson was bad. --I have to tell you that while Alicia Keys gave an excellent performance, I don't like the cocktail lounge version of the National Anthem. I prefer national anthems like a Tenor stepping onto the ice in Vancouver belting out "O' Canada" from the heart. Or a soprano singing God Save the Queen at Wembley Stadium. Why does America always have to be a music video? --I learned that buying tickets for a Beyonce concert would be a waste of money. How boring was that performance. --The most annoying part of the SB was the CBS panel of Cowher, Marino, Sharpe and Essaison. For me, it has always been a tedious group to watch, and I always avoid them even when preceding my Pat's games. They just shout out little diatribes. Rarely exhibiting a sense f humor or even a minimal fondness for each other. They were particularly horrendous during the Blackout. CBS should hire the Fox NFL group of Long, Johnson, Strahan  and Bradshaw for big events. --Training Camps open in about six months.

One of the more agonizing chores in life is trying to open a new music CD case.

Men used to emerge from their caves and go resolutely into the jungles to hunt food for their wives and families. Now husbands are handy for pushing the heavier shopping carts around stores*.

The Question:
1. It's now post Christmas sales rush, and big chain retailers are making a list an checking it twice...on how many and which stores to close. What 8 retailers do you think will close the most stores? Bonus: Name five Big Time college basketball teams with City names.

The Headlines:
--Baltimore 34, San Fran 31.
--EuroWoes Return To Knock US Stocks Off Highs.
--Insiders Say Hilary 2016 Candidate For Sure; Must Overcome Not Understanding Why Government Lying To people Isn't Big Problem.
--Hero Bus Driver In Alabama Mourned; New Report Says He saved All Other Children From Killer's Initial Intent.
--Hero Seal Sniper Chris Kyle And Friend Gunned Down By Veteran They Were Trying To Help.
--Iran Says Israel Will Regret Syria Strike.
--Suicide Bombers In Iraq Continue To Kill Militia And Civilians.
--Richard III Skeleton Found Under England Parking Lot; Skull Shows Wounds from 1485 battle Of Bosworth.
--Four Bus Crash Kills 8 In Cal; Death Toll Could Rise.
--Ed Koch Eulogized As Politician Who Never Said "No Comment".

How come rental car rates are going up, when the lessee is the party paying for the higher priced gas?

Of all the composers, Beethoven and Saint Saens in their piano concertos seemed to have the knack of blending, matching orchestra and piano for maximum effect. But that's just me talking.

Our less than honest local Congressman, David Ciciline, has teamed with NY's Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to propose a "Made in America" Bill. The idea is that US businesses would apply for "Grants" for capital expansion and other assorted business needs. Sounds like another intrusion into US business by Government, another move to sidestep American's engine, capitalism. Grants are what museums, artists and the vast social services industry use for financing. Business goes to Wall Street.

You know it's time to change the soap in the shower when it gets so thin you start cutting your face. Ouch! "Cut yourself shaving?"

If heat rises, how come attics are so cold?

The 0-Man must be chagrined watching French President Hollende riding triumphantly into Timbuktu as the conquering hero. It reminds me of those days when the US was so admired. Like the days when our troops rode into Paris after evictng the Nazis.

If you were at a car dealership, and a salesman named Harry Reid came over and started talking to you in a sing-songy voice, would you by a car from him?

Does anybody pay that much attention to the Davis Cup any more. Before the big bucks, National Pride was the big prize in Tennis.

* Note, I was going to say, "Now men emerge from their Man Caves...", but frankly I just can't bare to say the phrase "Man Cave" at all. It should be banned.

I think what makes the left seem so arrogant is they can't figure out that with all of their intellect, how conservatives grasped the idea of dominating talk radio before them.

Then again, maybe it was the Beyonce show that used up all of the power.

"Say Watt?" Department:
The one fact I know about alternative energy is that it costs considerably more than non-alternative energy. It always has, because it isn't, at this moment, not very efficient at all. That means it costs more to deliver a watt. As an engineer friend of mine once said, "A watt is a watt is a watt". If you plug in a space heater, the cost of those watts is more expensive than those from gas or oil sources. If you put windmills in the middle of the ocean, the cost of that watt is even more-so. So basically, alternative energy people have to figure a way to make non-alternative energy sources more expensive. That is just the way it works. And if they do, it still isn't better for the American pocketbooks.

The Conscience: 
Chapter 14 continues.
   I must be getting familiar with this place, because it didn't seem that long before I was wandering in and out of shadows of warehouses on the docks. I was only interested in one of these dreary buildings. the Baglietto building with that nasty old guard. It wasn't entirely spooky. There were people walking everywhere, as the old waterfront buildings were now bars and late night clubs.
   I moved away from the shadows into the middle of a large open space between the warehouse and cocktail lounge rows. I seemed to be able to smell the gin through the brackish air of the harbor. Should I fortify myself? I was musing at the idea of sitting with a glass in my hand, water lapping at the pilings below the building, when a large group of happy people moved my way. It is exactly what I was waiting for, especially since they were headed towards the verbotten builindg. After they passed me, one of the woman eying me, I stepping behind, just another straggler weaving along on the way home.
   It wasn't long before I saw "Baglietto" in big black letters against the gray shadowed walls. The group walked past, and nobody emerged from the building or looked out through a window. I dropped off the back of the group and moved quickly to the side of the wall. The same woman looked back at me. I waved her away. Within seconds it was deadly silent.

The Answer:
First, based on the stories I've read, Best Buy must be one of them,, and it is with 200-250 shutterings! After that we have in order, Sears - 175/2225, , JC Penny - 300/350, Office Depot - 125/150, Barnes and Noble - 190/240, GameStop - 500/600, Office Max - 150/175 and Radio Shack - 450/550. Bonus: There are many downtown colleges like St. Johns, Penn or UCLA, but to find five of the best with City names, you only have to look at he Top Twenty Five rankings to find Syracuse, Miami, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Louisville. Some others with historic programs are Dayton, Providence, Boston, St. Louis, Houston and Detroit. One of the great little teams of the 50's which came out of nowhere was Seattle featuring the O'Brien Twins. Two little guys who often left the bigs with their jaws on the floor.

Reviewer after reviewer this morning has used words from Terrific to Electrifying to "Kick-ass" in describing the Beyonce half time extravaganza. And I used "Snoozer" and "Catch up on nap-time". I think time has passed me by.

So, the superbowl crammed in what, 72,003 fans? That's nothing compared to the Waste Management Phoenix Open where about 525,000 went to watch golf! That's about 131,000 per day. I guess there's nothing like a walk in the sun in the dessert? Actually, the attendance from Saturday -- 175,000! -- fell to 59,000 for the final day. I guess they were all out buying Doritos for the big event in NO.

Only 5 more days til Pitchers and catchers report to training camp! Who needs football anyhow.