Two days of mind mushing.

Today's Tids Issue 3,208

Opening Stuff: 

 

Well, I’m either a Tech genius or I got lucky that the computer sorted itself out.  My Computer as you could tell from the unstoppable drain mode as reported “Live” in Wednesday’s shortened Tids, went to zero. I tried a few things I found through Googling, but no instant gratification. Being an average American, I gave up. Later in the day I plugged it back in, and low and behold it started charging immediately, and now is working perfectly. And, just in the nick of time as today is the all important NFL Pick-um’ Thursday. Computer problem? Wait it out, it’s just playin’ with you.

 

Ebola: Why New Yorkers are nervous about doctor who upon returning from Guinea with fever decided to take a subway to the Brooklyn Alley for a couple of frames. Sorry, it was just laying out there and I had to do it.

 

There are General Stores in the middle of every little town in Vermont. Some are mere tourist traps which feature a high priced bakers offering luxury buns. Then there are the real ones, which have more stuff and reasonable process and you can tell the difference because more people are huddled together talking about guns and game.

 

The Question:

Who are the Top Ten all time Quarterbacks in passing yardage? Which receivers have caught the most passes in history? What running backs have the best career yards per carry average? Bonus: You may want to have horror movie binge for Halloween. What are the top ten horror movies since 2000?

 

The Headlines:

Friday:

--Student Opens Fire And Wounds 6 Before Killing Self; Ambush Is At Marysville-Pilchuck HS in Washington State; School In Lockdown; Details Still To Come.

--US General Curtis Scapporotti Says North Koreas Has Nuclear Missile Capability.

--Microsoft Does Good; Old Computer Company Outshines All Techs.

--Syria Rebels To Aid Kurds In defense Of Kobane.

--Fox News Kimberly Guilfoyle Says Young Women Are Basically Airheads And Don’t Have Knowledge To Vote Properly.

Homeland Security Raids Kansas City Panty Shop; Confiscates Ladies Underwear.  

Thursday:

--Gunmen(?) Open Fire In Canadian Parliament, Country On High Alert; US Beefs Up security At Governement Positions.

--Stocks Slide At Shootings, But Should Rebound Today. Weekly First Time Jobless Claims Up To 283K

--Another Man Jumps Fence At White House; Security Had Been Increased After Last Month’s Incident.

--US Le Strike Kills 500 Militants In Syria.

--Burger King Pressing To Make Tim Horton Deal; Dunkin’ Sales Down, Stock Under Fire.

--KC Royals Even World Series With 7-2 Win.

--States Setting Up Own Ebola Quarantine Rules; NBC Photo-Journalist Cured, Returns Home To RI.

 

I think that there’s probably guilt on both sides of the Ferguson Mo, media driven shooting controversy. Darren Wilson probably shot Michael Brown in  self defense, but may have shot a few more times than  necessary. But, Michael Brown was no shy retiring teen. He was a large and intimidating and apparently a pretty mean man-boy, accord ign to what I saw in the convenience store security tapes. Michael Brown caused his own death. The problem with reporting in cases like this is that too many media people seem to think the word teen equates with innocent.

 

Somebody has actually written a story titled “7 Things Retirees should do with their $20 Increase for Social Security”. And somebody actually published it. We have way too many outlets for out of work writers with time on their hands.

 

No wonder the college scholar athletes want cash for playing even though they are getting a couple of hundred thousand bucks in scholarships.  U North Carolina has reported that over 3,500 of their athletes went to classes that were absolutely fake, where nothing was learned because no professors were there, and they still all got “A’s” an “B’s”. Yikes.  We live in a sham world.

A couple of bad choices combined with upsets gave us a mediocre 9-6 record last week. We are now at 63-41. Ugh.  We have a monster game tonight between division 5-1 rivals Denver and San Diego. Denver is clicking and at home so I’m going with them…even if my stomach says no. Note, Denver won (35-21) With so many unexpected upset wins this year, I think just about every game, even among perennial losers, is a toss-up. The Lions are better, But Atlanta is madder and at home. The Falcons. Both KC and SL played great last week, but I’m picking home team KC in this Mizzu toss-up. Tenn has let me down all year, but they will win for me this week over Houston at home. TB is playing tougher and Minn is up and down. TB, the home team. Wow, Seattle – what’s going on? I’m  picking Carolina. I like Cinn  to finally comeback over Balt. Miami will win the Florida Championship over Jax. Buff lost some good players and the Jets will win at home. I love Phil, but I like Ariz too and they are home. Ariz. Indy playing really well and Pitt is suspect. Will be real close, but Luck will find a way. GB is impressing me now and NO isn’t. GB. Dallas will beat Wash in a continuation of a series that used to be always tough. An overconfident Cleveland looked awful last week, and Oakland is awful. Browns to bounce back and war the hearts of Clevelanders. Now, the Pats and Chicago: Tougher than it looks with Chi losing regularly these days. But, the Pats are losing players rapidly. I’m going with my heart another home field advantage, But da Bears are really, really mad. A battle.

 

Uh-Oh, it's doing it again. I just got back to my room, and the little power/charging indicator that is normally white, is bright red, like it is telling me “Duck and Cover”. I’m turning it off. Sorry, No, Thursday Tids.

 

We are Back! Went to Staples where the guy analyzed and then provided a solution which was in the power cord -- he replaced mine with a used cord – all for Free. I love Staples.  Back in business for a while, depending on how used, the used cord is.

 

This little incident reminded me that I have procrastinated far too long backing up some of my literary efforts.

 

Actually, before I left I set a reminder in my calendar to let me know where I am so I wouldn’t make conflicting appointments. For the last three mornings I have been alerted, “You aren’t here. You’re in Vermont.”

 

By the way, the answer to the Tuesday “Q” -- Which cars have the dangerous air bags? -- omitted in the answer that almost all of the defective air bags were in areas of the country with continuous high humidity. So it wasn’t necessarily a car maker thing but and under engineering thing by the bag maker. Of course, lass action lawyers really don’t care about the actual truth, especially when it partially vindicates or even exonerates the deep pockets defenders.

 

Headline in the paper: “$500 Thousand Grant Will Aid Families With Low Income.” I’ll take it.

 

If they a raise the Minimum wage about 75% to $15, who is going to offset the resultant inflation that will affect Social Security recipients.

 

Speaking of stupid Government tricks, the local city selectman gang has foisted upon the denizens of Newport these giant new garbage containers, under the guise of easing our taxes because they will be so much more profitable to the Waste Management Company. How long before you see that reduction your taxes? You ‘re better off buying WMC stock! But, I digress: In their effort to make this appear pleasant to citizens now stuck with untold numbers of recycling an garbage containers (that worked just fine) they tell us that the old recycling bins will make great “Planters”! Think about how the Historical society would look upon curb side after curbside of blue recycling bin planters! Massive regurgitation! They also suggest, “Give one to a friend!” I lose enough friends already with his daily morning mess. God, don’t you just love government officials? Planters?

 

Amazon is losing big money underwriting the low cost of their tablets, and the new phone -- $146 Million last quarter. The sales of the new smart phone have been close to dismal primarily because of what was written =her at the time of the introduction; The phone was designed for Amazon’s benefit, and not the broader community of users. But this news is only half of their future problems. In the  not too distant future expect Alibaba, the gigantic China eCommerce company, has set its sights squarely on the Amazon space. It is expected they will be more consumer oriented with less inward company focus. Or, at least they will disguise it better. Nothing stays the same.

 

Reading Between the Lines, Movie Reviews:

There is one Halloween movie opening today, Ouija. I won’t go into it.

--The critics choice will be St. Vincent staring the new love of the Hollywood elite, Bill Murray, plus another contemporary favorite who won’t be shrill in this one, Melissa McCarthy. Bill as Vincent has many debts from gambling and many problems with drinking, and Naomi Watts, a sometime girlfriend who is a sometimes prostitute. In moves single mom Melissa and her precocious 11 yo son. Vincent says he’ll baby sit the kid for $11/hour while she works. You can guess that the relationship grows, and in-between saccharine moments we see some school bullies mysteriously bloodied. Critics will nominate it for something.

--John Wick also has a big name cast. John (Keenu reeves is a legendary hit man (Like perhaps bigger than a John Wayne western character) who comes out of retirement to get the characters who ruined his life, including the death of his wife (Bridget Moynihan –Tom Brady’s Ex). His sidekick is played by William Defoe and notorious female hit girl by  Adrianne Palicki. The evil genius is a Russian mob head, his former boss and now hunted enemy. It sound ordinary but it is much better than that with lots of cool slaughtering of humans.

 

The Answer:

The top QB’s in passing yardages are Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Dan Marino, Drew Brees, John Elway, Tom Brady, Warren Moon, Fran Tarkington, Vinny Testaverde ,Drew Bledsoe, Dan Fouts, Kerry Collins, Joe Montana and Johnny Unitas. The top receivers in catches are Jerry Rice, Tony Gonzales, Marvin Harrison, Cris Carter, Tim Brown, Terrell Owens, Reggie Wayne, Isaac Bruce, Hines Ward, Randy Moss, Andre H=Johnson, Andre reed, Derrick Mason and Art Monk. For yards per carry runners the first two are QB’s Michel Vick and Randall Cunningham. After that the pure runners are Cleveland’s great Marion Motley, Jamaal Charles, Jim Brown, Mercury Morris, Joe Perry, Gale Sayers, Barry Sanders, Adrian Peterson, Napoleon Kaufman, Paul Lowe and Lenny Moore.  Bonus: Some of the best from 2000 to today are The Devils Backbone, the Eye, May, The Ring, Suicide Club, 28 Days Later, The Descent, Red Eye, The Orphanage, Let the Right One In, The Mist, Paranormal Activity, The Cabin in the Woods, V/H/S, The Conjuring, You’re Next and the Babadook. Ooooo-weee-ooooo!

 

Sorry for the fits and starts E-v-e-r-y-b-o-d-y!

 

Good earnings reports pushed aside the trumped up reports of global hysteria and the market is safe…for a while.

 

You’d think that with all of this downtime I’d come up with something funny.

 

Have a terrific weekend. We’ll be flowing next week.