Plugging gaps so the ship won’t sink.

Today's Tids Issue 3,233
Opening Stuff:
 

It's hard to believe this is only December 1 since they've been playing Christmas Carols since October, maybe even August. But it is that first day of the magical month the ends with the celebration of the birth of the Son of God, and the new beginning for all humankind, whether or not some like it. Unfortunately this season of love has morfed into one of anger as the selfish seek to paint the white hills black, and commercialism replaces heart felt feelings with 30% off. Me, I'll be making angels in te snow to ward off the black. Singing my heart out with Hark the Herald Angels sing. And running trough town shouting Merry Christmas to all. I will also remember the anguish of tnh sneak attack at Pearl Harbor. I will live the childlike  magic of what Christmas is and never forget the heroes who give.

Too often I only see my own problems, which almost always are infinitesimal in the grand scheme of ills affecting the world, and the people in it. It’s good not to dwell on small afflictions physical or mental, It’s better to consider all around you; not to feel lucky about your own good fortune, but to get in their shoes and walk with them.   

 

I don’t play Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony often enough. That’s what happens when you become addicted to Brahms.

 

I imagine most of you saw that story about the woman bringing on a commercial flight her “Emotional Support Animal (ESA)” in this case a smelly, screaming, aisle defecating pig. The point is that we seem to have adapted the country to one-offs, the will of one over the majority, The exception of course in the Government and places like the IRS where lumping individuals into statistical groupings can inflict significant pain upon unfortunate “One’s” caught in the irrationalism of unwieldy government. The government simply because of bigness often forces sensible humans to become screaming emotional animals, with no support or recourse.

 

Some momentarily ecstatic US citizens thought the “Airbag recall” meant that we were getting rid of Politicians.

 

The Question:

Everybody knows of the destruction Pompeii, Right? What were the other two towns wiped off the map at the same time by Mount Vesuvius? Bonus: Name the Roman sitting there one day across the Bay of Naples who watched the destruction and wrote it down for the understanding of future societies?

 

The Headlines:

--FBI Issues Strong Warnings About ISIS Attacks On US Soil.

--Stocks Open Lower; EU Manufacturing Growth Hits Brick Wall; Bad News On China Economic Weakness Plus Commodity volatility Fogging Wall Street; Retailers Hit; Black Friday Sales Down From Previous Years; Christmas Season Starting Earlier Now With More Pre-BF Sales.

--Khamenei Tells Iran Armed Forces To Build Up ‘Irrespective’ Of Diplomacy.

--Suicide Attacks Continue In Afghanistan.

--US Police Departments Irate Over SL Ram’s Players Fergy Tribute;

--New England Revs, MLS team OF NE Pats Owner Bob Kraft, Reaches Championship Game Against

--4 NFL Teams Said To Be Showing Interest In Wife Beating Ray Rice.

 

One of the little ironies of life is that soda pop is always colder in the winter than in the summer.

 

Let’s hear it for Mikaela Shiffrin who is holding the Red, White and Blue high in World Skiing.

 

Speaking of American’s, Local Volvo Ocean racer Skipper Charles Enright of Avimedica dropped sails and went under power to assist if necessary fellow racer boat Vestes Wind which lost both rudders after getting it stern hung on a reef in the Indian Ocean 850 miles east of Madagascar. The crew, now rescued, had been in two life boats tethered about 50 feet from the marooned 65 foot boat and under the watch of the Enright boat. As Enright said, “Racing has become secondary at this point. Our number 1 priority is the safety of the Vestes crew…we will not alter our pan until the situation is under control.” Check it out:

 http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/video/31374_Standing-By.html While in there, play around with the site.

 

The Fraz Comic Strip on Sunday morning asked these questions: --What did they do for breakfast before drive up windows? –What did car companies put in the space now occupied by cup holders? –Why not take a minute to make breakfast at home? --Instead of “fast food”, why don’t they call it “lazy food”? –Why did the Stones and the Beatles get so much more attention than the Kinks?

 

You could ask a similar question about why Boston is often more associated with the revolutionary war than say New York and the answer would be the same – Boston had more and better Poets. The Beatles had more and better publicists.

 

How much money does America spend on take-out coffee a year?

 

If you read reports from the Secretaries of Defense under BHO, it’s easy to believe that there could have been a Middle East or Asian style military coup.

 

One thing I feel for sure is that deep down in the hearts of all humans there is a little trigger that ignites strong feelings for then plights of others. Unfortunately, ISIS beheaders have me confused.

 

Smile and the world smiles with you. Frown and the world gets grouchy.

 

I’m wafting along on the beauty of Richard Strauss music, which somehow reaches and grabs your soul like no other. So, if I sound a little ethereal this morning. That’s why

 

One of the biggest gaps in society is between “What’s Legal” and “What‘s Honest and Ethical”. The other giant gap is “the facts” and “what I Want the facts to be”.

 

Michael Brown isn’t the only so-called victim who caused their own deaths. Take the person wearing black who walks along side an Interstate highway. The bicyclist who disregards the rules of the road.  While it is always unfortunate that people have to die, the innocent second party has to live with that death forever…and who knows what other consequences.

 

The Answer:

The two other towns destroyed that day by Vesuvius were Herculioneum and Stabaie. Bonus: It turned out that Pliny the Younger staying at his uncles’ – Pliny he Elder, In Charge of the fleet In the Bay Of Naples, and who was killed by Vesuvius – Wrote letters of what he saw to a friend Cornelious Tacitus. The letters were discovered in the 16^th Century. Pliny the Y  noted that it was his Uncle’s intellectual curiosity that drew jh=him closer to the dangerous cloud emitted by the angry Volcano. Check out his letters on the web, as it is an interesting story of Pliny the Y as a hero, using all available ships to rescue as many an=s possible. Maybe we should rename the Elder, Pliny the Cat.

 

We’re off!!

 

People often suffer their intense pain in silence, so you can never know how beautiful a good smile will will appear to someone you many not even know.