LOL

Today's Tids Issue 3,468

Opening Stuff:

I hear your laugh when you’re not here.

I see your broad smile, from ear to ear,

The funny way you squint your eyes.

Laughter brings on many delicious highs.

It’s amazing what your mind can see,

Where laughter produces so much glee.

In this new world painting so much gloom

Your hearty guffaws brightens the room.

True laughter, always unrestrained, droll

The lively spirit of a spontaneous soul.

I realized that that the world was passing me by when I had no idea of what “Loofah” meant

You might want to Pour Yourself a Martini, a Double, Department:

The Saudi factor -- Most of the most egregious terror attacks beginning with the night club in Indonesia were the work of al-Qaida, all trained in Saudi Arabia schools under Islamic Fundamentalist clerics and based on Wahhabism teachings. Everybody in DC knows this as the root of extremist actions, but the White House is unwilling to face it as Saudi Arabia remains as the main strategic base for the US ships, air force and tanks units. The Saudis are not taking any Syria refugees, but they will pay to build 200 mosques in Germany where the education of these new German residents will be by the same Islamic Fundamentalist clerics that trained al-Qaida, but now I the heartland of Europe. This could become a vast source of new adherents to more violent A-Q breakaway group, ISIS. To further confuse you, the USA is dropping weapons into Syria to who knows who, but presumably the al-Nusra, another branch of, or at least a group linked to al-Qaida. So, have we become allied with al-Qaida to fight the Islamic State? The Middle East is strange, and threatening, for sure. The above is a severely truncated analysis of the interlocking of Islamic teachings and power groups. Next to watch is the Turkey effect.

The NCAA Football Playoffs would be much more realistic if they made it 8 teams instead of four. Picking the “Top 4” as only the best is still far too arbitrary for a national playoff to determine a true champion.

The Question:

IMDb has a list of the “Best Actresses Ever”. They put them in order – 1, 2, 3… -- but they said, “Not in any special order”. Name five of the Top Twenty.

The Headlines:

--Stock Market Up Ahead Of FED Minutes.

--Obama Calls On China To Halt Land Reclamation Efforts In China Sea.

--Paris Raid Shuts Down Terror Planning Operation But Fails To Yield Mastermind

--“Black Lives” Protestors Upset That Paris Stole Their Spotlight; Black Lives Aficionados Took To Twitter with Hashtag, #F***Paris.

--New National Tests Show That RI Students Are Learning little.

Sorry, I spelled Sheen wrong in yesterday’s Tids. No matter how you spell it, it still Is defined as immoral, selfish, uncaring creep. Nobody lower, as far as I’m concerned.

They Went to Court for This?, Department:

After an appeal to the RI Supreme Court by a man doing a life sentence for stabbing his wife to death in front of his two children ages 5 and 3, and then continuing on in front of them to dismember his former spouse and their mother with a circular saw, the judges determined that he would “Lose his parental rights”. Maybe I am on a different planet. Well, maybe he is a little lower than the movie star who recklessly had sex with hundreds of women while knowing he was HIV positive. Dismemberment, infectious disease carrier. It’s a toss-up.

Boaters readily accept all onions except leeks.

All of this angst about athletes using drugs and ointments to enhance their skills is as old as, well as old as the Greek and Roman days in 778 BC when they regularly rubbed onion juice on their bodies to gain an advantage in the very first Olympic games. Of course back then they didn’t have regulatory bureaucracies to act surprised. Or ESPN to gasp.

If you can’t hear the laughter, but need to envelop yourself in pleasant dreams, put on the 3^rd movement of Wilhelm Stenhammer’s first Piano Concerto in bFlat. Soothing and romantic.

In a poll among the top Democrat political operatives we find these strategists are most in fear of: Rubio – 64% and Kasich at 45% and Jeb at 36%. They pretty much don’t fear Trump at 16%, Cruz and Carson at 4% and Christie a 2%. But then, would you really believe a Democrat operative?

One of the problems about all of the racial rally’s is that the basic concept of the protest dismisses the individual. Hey there are really bad white and really bad blacks; really great whites and really great blacks; and everything in between. But this idealistic, naïve student pastime presenting a view about race becoming the Raison d’etra for everything, has no room for discrediting or exalting  people for whom they are. It’s a loser cause and a waste of time.

I could have been a great tympani player.

The Parking Lot: Chapter 29.

    After safely stowing away the satchel, and pouring a couple of scotches for Jared and herself, Nancy dialed the cell phone of Fred Hohlman.

    She heard a subdued, hesitant Fred answer, which was what she had expected. “Fred, don’t say a word, don’t look around, just listen. I don’t think you look very happy with your new friends. Don’t nod yes, and don’t laugh. It’s about time we worked together.”

   Jared was feeling the warmth of the amber liquid demolishing the tension of the past several hours. He looked at Nancy in awe as she drew the utterly destroyed Town Council President into her web.

“Do what I say. I will call you, Fred.” She hung up turned and smiled at Jared, a sensuous, warm smile that he had yet to see on that beautiful face, the woman he once felt he had to protect. She stood and walked towards him. She bent and kissed him on the lips, while drawing him up out of his chair. “Hold me Jared. I need you to hold me. I want to escape inside of you.

    The heavy bottomed glass of scotch fell from Jared’s weakened hand and landed on the rug without breaking. He pulled her into him and felt her relax her body into his.

The Answer:

IMBD lists Judy Garland first followed by Meryl Streep. I can’t argue with that or number three as Jessica Lange. Next is Diane Keaton followed by Bette Midler (?) and Bette Davis. Finishing the top 10 we have Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Olivia de Havilland and Norma Shearer. 11 through 20 are Goldie Hawn, Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin (?), Sissy Spacek (!), Julianne Moore, Annette Bening (?), Nicole Kidman, Emma Stone, Doris Day and Lauren Becall. Personally I would have moved Nicole Kidman and Sissy Spacek closer to the top ten. Note, multi Oscar winner Katherine Hepburn was only 29 and always excellent Audrey Hepburn 27. In the middle of the solid Hepburn’s was current super star Julia Roberts. (Check out the entire list yourself -- http://www.imdb.com/list/ls074600048?ref_=nm_rls_5 )

To help you climb into the beauty of the day, here’s a Stenahhammer piece called Interlude from “The Song”. https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-006&ei=utf-8&fr=ytff1-yff16&p=stenhammer&type=

And, if this doesn’t work, just laugh out loud to yourself! :o)