Ray's explode; Sox implode.

Today's Tids Issue #2,432
Opening Stuff:


Yesterday Red Sox manager Terry Francona said, "This is good for baseball." So that 's why he created the biggest September collapse in the history of the storied game! For the good of baseball? Are you kidding me.

The good news is that federal agents catch obscure potential terrorist bombers just in the nick of time. How do they do it. They must be really good or potential terrorist bombers are really, really stupid. I'm happy the Feds are good. But I am just amazed how among 300,000,000 people they are able to ferret out one innocuous person just before he/she plans to fire a bomb.

The Question:
Name the Top ten Colleges with respect to having the highest average mid-career salaries.

The Headlines:

--Red Sox Set New Record For September Futility.
--Stock Futures Up; Better Than Expected Readings On Jobless Bennie Apps And 2Q GDP; However, 1.3 2Q GDP Growth Considered Dangerously Weak.
--Merkel Wins Bailout Vote With Own Coalition Majority; Coalition Support Seen As Vote Of Confidence In her Drive To Stabilize Eurozone.
--Maine Ups Speed Limit To 75MPH.
--Consumer Spending Down 2% Except For health Care And Transportation (Gasoline) Which Are Up.
--Greek Civil Servants Shut Down Doors Of Government Ministries In Advance Of New Austerity talks.
--Syria Regime Loyalists Pelt US Embassy With Tomatoes.
--Pakistan PM Says US Must Stop Blaming Islamabad For Regional Instability.
--Younger American Jews Do ot Share Parents Vision For Israel.

Many were surprised yesterday when the 0-Team decided to ask for a Supreme Court hearing on ObamaCare. People in the know weren't. The main reason for anything these days is the election in 2012. The fear in the White House was that this would drag on til next summer. Second, if this were to remain in the 11th Circuit Court, the Admin would have lost decisively. So now we have a new debate to watch on TV other than the guilt or innocence of Michael Jackson's Doc. One that may actually have something to do with our lives.

Greek civil servants are destroying the pensions of American seniors. I'm off moussaka forever.

Last night may have been the most incredible baseball night ever. With the Rays down comfortably 7-0 and the Sox appearing to be playing with determination up 3-2 before the rain delay, I went to bed happy. We got it, I thought. I awoke at 2:30 and turned on the TV to see the end of the rain-out game. Zowie! How could it be? Right between the eyes. I turned on the radio and cried along with callers and sports talkers.

I feel like I'm back in the "Sox" days before 2004. When in the Fall your heart always seemed to be residing in the bottom fo your stomach.

Duh comment of the Week:
Bernanke: "Lack of Jobs a Crisis." How much are we paying this guy. I think it's about time he goes back into the vault. Many say that monetary policy fixes will have no effect on improving the economy. And that includes KC Fed head Thomas Hoenig. He was not in favor of either of the two QE's nor the Fed's pledge to keep interest rates low. Robust economies don't exist on lending based on Zero, he opines. Now, 3 other Fed Bank Heads have joined his chorus. Meanwhile Bernanke keeps talking and the Dow sinks every time. Is there a clue in here somewhere.

Correction: Speaking of 2 QE's, that was not the QE II in Newport harbor yesterday. It was the Queen Mary II. Sorry. Still majestic, though.

Is there a more celebrated child rapist in history than Roman Polanski. How demented is this Worldwide film crowd that continually fawns over this guy who if he were Joe Shmoe on Elm Street would have a sign on his door "Warning: This guy is a danger to neighborhood children". And Hollywood would be making movies about their despicable acts.

Almost Near: Chapter 41 continues. --Samantha heard footsteps on the dock. The sound of footsteps walking slowly on the dock seemed to be inches from her hiding place. "Samantha, it's Tucker. Are you here?" Sam froze. held her breath. "I remember those beautiful days when we were kids playing on these docks. How much fun we had. You were always happy here. Remember how you and I loved it here. 'I feel safe' you always told me. 'If anything happens I can always get away on a boat,' you said. I thought you might have returned. But, maybe you don't remember." Samantha tried to breathe quietly. She thought she sounded like the exhaust of jet taking off. But the footsteps didn't come nearer. "I remember the first time we kissed, sitting on the end of this dock. I will never forget that."
That seemed to ease her fear, but still she decided not to move, not to be found. She moved her clenched arms and felt a small tingel as the blood began recirculating again. Her body sagged as she relaxed a bit.
"Why would you want to feel safe from Dante and me. Dante seems like a nice guy."
Why isn't he moving away, she thought. Then she smiled a little as she thought of Dante. He didn't seemed bad. Why she running. Is there something wrong with her? Finally she heard foot steps moving down the dock to shore. She remained quiet. It was getting cold sitting in the puddle in the bottom of the boat. She wanted to move, but didn't think she should.
"Samantha". She heard footsteps on another dock, much farther away this time. She had to get away; be by herself. Find out what was happening. Something was happening. She moved her head enough to peak out from under the canvas look around the boat. And then she saw them. Just like she remembered from some time long ago. Keys in the little cubby by the center console.

The Answer:
#1 is Princeton. It is followed by CalTech, Harvy Mudd, Harvard, MIT, Dartmouth, Duke, NYU-Poly, Tie -- Lehigh U, Colgate, Stanford --, Holy Cross, SUNY Maritime, Bucknell and Amherst. See em' all -- http://www.payscale.com/best-colleges/top-us-colleges-graduate-salary-statistics.asp.

Why do I have this feeling that the Pats are going to disappoint me this year more than the Sox. Is it becasue their defense sucks? probably.

Sign in a restaurant: "Don't throw cigarette butts on the floor. the cockroaches will get cancer."

It's always blue above the clouds.

Today's Tids Issue #2428
Opening Stuff:


This mornings skies are grey and solemn. They seem predatory, daring humans to venture forth. What will they bring. Will they open up to torrential rains; Northeast winds that churn the seas. Mighty winds that deleaf trees? Or will they intimidate, lay there dull and dreary? But it is September; beautiful September; September, when the skies bring gloom, the air that surrounds exhales the aroma of crisp, stirring Autumns. And the smiles of people you see bring the sunshine.

Talk about dreary...this morning many of the financial experts are saying "Preserve capital, go to cash". Yikes!

I think 0-Man's biggest obstacle to reelection is that huge block of 2008 voters who thought he was refreshing and are now incredibly disillusioned.

The Question:
R.E.M. announced that the party is over. Name the three principle band members and five of the their hits.

The Headlines:

--Stocks Nosedive...Again.
--Abbas Rejects US, French Statehood Proposals; Palestine Wants It Now; Palestinian Protestors Slam 0-Man Over His UN Speech..
--House Dems And tea Party Join Together To Kill Disaster Relief Bill.
--Perry/Romney GOP A Tier In Tonight's Important Florida Debate; Straw Poll To Follow Next Day.
--Weekly Jobless Bennies Apps Drops To 423K; Four Week Average Rises To 421K.
--NATO Says Daffy Fighter Still A Force To be considered.
--New Guidance From Arne And The White House Effectively Guts The "No Child Left Behind " Law; GOP Says Waivers Will Put More Control Of Local Education In Big Gov. Hands.
--Carter Executed.

Bernanke lowered the interest rate yesterday to jump-start lending in an unimaginative attempt to stimulate business growth. He's been doing this for three years, and nothing has happened yet. I don't think they have a clue. Just another one trick pony.

Oh yeah, and the Fed's convoluted "Operation Twist", announced at the same time, will provide another negative impact on the nation's largest Pension Funds, already struggling with funding shortfalls.

I see where the loons in San Fran are rallying to the safety of their fellow avian brethren. Yes the city will require "Bird Safe" glass in all new building construction, at double the cost of glass currently in use. They say "millions of birds have met their death" crashing into buildings. I find "Millions" difficult to believe. But then you know bird lovers.

The new TV show Revenge could grow on me. Nicely paced with some cleverness and plot twists. A bit of a soap opera in the Hampton's, but not bad.

If air is free, why does electricity generated by ocean wind power farms cost twice as much as traditionally generated electricity?

Rhode Island has some excellent new politicians in waiting. People with imagination, integrity, balance and brains. Pols who give us hope that someday in the future our beautiful state will actually have real Senators in Washington instead of the embarrassing puppets we have today. I'm thinking of Allan Fung (R), Gina Raimondo (D) and Angel Tavarous (D), three people fighting the demons that previous irresponsible and unaccountable politicians left as pollution upon the state's financial landscape.

Has TV ever been more disgusting than it was last night on the X-Factor? Fortunately a male singer in a shiny outfit was so bad, that after just four/five sour notes I switched to the Red Sox (Also Disgusting). What I missed was this deplorable act where the A-Hole of the week (Or is it just one more A-Hole on bad TV) strips down to frontal nudity. Paula Abdul walked off horrified. Of course, this was a taped show and there was no reason at all (Except to use depravity push up ratings) to show it to a national audience. Do the producers think their show sucks so badly that they have to resort to this even lower common denominator than other bad TV shows. Shame on Simon Cowell.

I knew there was a reason that studiously avoid "Audition" shows for competition series.

It's Pickum' Time on the Tids gridiron. Last week we improved slightly to q respectable 13-3 bringing the year to 23-9 or 71.2%. The tough ones are Houston-NO, NE-Buff(?), Phil-NYG, Det-Minn, Jax-Car, GB-Chi Wash-Dal and TB-Atlanta. For those I'm picking No, NE, Phil, Det, Car, Gb, Wash, Atlanta. The rest are SF, Tenn, Cleve, SD, NYJ, Balt, Ariz and Pitt. Deos it appear that there are a lot more injuries already tis year. The Pats, for instance, have already shelved for the season their very good center and a top DL. This could make picking difficult if the injuries continue.

"Get the Rich" is an economic policy that will never work.

That $16 muffin which was reported yesterday as standard fare at Washington DC coffee breaks seems indicative of how our Gov. employees view spending. The baker should be arrested fo price gouging. No wonder the DC area has the neighborhoods with the highest priced a housing and highest family incomes. $16 for a muffin. The country is insane. I find $2.00 muffins outrageous. The government looks at the way they spend as normal just as a career criminals raised in a criminal environments think what he/she does is normal.

The Answer: 
 R.E.M. who announced their retirement yesterday had 15 studio albums, 10 compilation albums, 64 singles and 56 music videos. Soime of the hits from the Michael Stripe, Mke Mills, Peter Buck band were: The one I Love, The End of the World as We Know It, Fall On Me, Can't Get there from Here, Orange Crush, Superman and Radio Free Europe.

Ron Paul will never get his due, because the media plain just doesn't like him.

Too many great people and their accomplishments are obscured by the lies of the afraid and the inadequate.

Your favorite serial novel will return tomorrow.

Jeszcze Polska nie zginela.

Today's Tids Issue 2,108
Opening Stuff:

My heart feels their love and at the same time aches for the misery of the Polish people.

Dumping on the Tea Party is becoming very tired. The Dems and Republicans have been lifting our wallets for years, and yet the erudite opinion makers think they should use their position to belittle good Americans trying to help make the country sensible again.

The bad news is that small business is not doing very well right now. Economists are saying that the economy is showing signs of life primarily because of big company advances. But, after last major recession, small business accounted fro 4,000,000 new jobs while the bigs at the end of that downturn came out with 500,000 fewer employees.

The Question:
Some like it hot! But, you should know how hot is hot. What are the hottest peppers/pepper based products and what is the name of the measurement for Hotness?

The Headlines:
--Earthquake In Western China Kills 400; 10,000 Homeless.
--76 In India Killed By Cyclone.
--Icelanders Evacuate As Volcano Erupts Again.
--Newest Economic Challenge: Stagnate Wages Versus Rising Energy And Food Costs.
--US National Security Council Says Cyber-Attack Us At Your Own Risk; Military Leaders Assert Right To respond Even When Not Knowing Identity Of Attacker.
--JP Morgan Earns $3.3 Billion In Q1.
--US Stock Futures Rosy After Strong Report From Intel.
--Carcieri Sees New House Budget As Spending More Of What They Don’t Have; RI Governor Says He Will Veto Unless Senate Makes Big Fixes.

Back to More Stuff:

I remember thinking that backward baseball caps reduced a guy’s IQ image by 50-75 points. But male fashionistas have topped themselves in a continuing effort to look dumber than hell by going to the flat brim baseball caps. That’s just one man’s opinion. I’m not stereotyping or nothin’.

I just read about a hamburger that could conceivably bring on an early death. It’s a ½ pound black angus burger topped with fried onions between to pieces of…fired dough! You know fried dough – doughboys, beaver tails, whale tails, funnel cakes, malasadas, and yes, zepolis. It’s great with powdered sugar. But think of them oozing with beef juice. Put your cell phone on auto-911 before eating. It’s served at Jerry Remy’s Sports Bar across from Fenway Park (Remy is the official Commissioner of Red Sox Nation.

Yesterday Bernanke said Americans should bone up on finance so they make better choices about their money, and thus avoid facing 2008 style disasters. Americans say that if Bernanke and his gang had been doing their jobs we might not have had the downturn in the first place. If the Fed doesn’t have the ability to recognize diminishing sound banking principles – like determining if borrowers actually have the wherewithal to pay back loans – who does? Leadership, schmeadership.

98 Years ago today The RMS Titanic proved the validity of the “Tip of the Iceberg” theory.

Today I’m going to save you lots of money and angst with this recipe for meatballs from one of those “Hot” NYC restaurants that really over-charge if you can get in. Rao’s is a place for people who really think it is important to be seen! Combine 1 lb ground beef, ½ lb grnd veal and ½ lb grnd pork in bowl. Using hands blend meat with 2 large eggs, 1 cp grated Pecorino Romano cheese, 1 ½ tbs chopped Itl parsley, ½ small clove minced garlic and blk pepper and sea salt to taste. Now mix in 2 cps fresh breadcrumbs and then slowly blend in two cps water, 1 cp at a time. Make little 2 ½-3 inch balls. Heat 1 cp OO in sauté pan. When hot but not smoking cook meatballs until crisp on both sides. Now simmer in your favorite marinara sauce for fifteen minutes.

Through the Same Eyes: Chapter 66 continues. –“Hi Kent,” I answered as I slid into the booth. I actually smiled radiantly, I thought. I reached across and he took my hand and squeezed it, gently. I shivered a little. Then I just sat and looked into his eyes. “It seems like years…” and I trailed off without finishing.
“Yes it does,” He agreed. Just as Marie came over to take an order. I quickly drew back my hand and placed it in my lap. At the same time I felt his foot on my calf. He had taken off his shoe. All of a sudden, my mouth became dry.
“So, what can I get you, Sarah”. I looked up at her always happy face. Was she looking at me differently? Did I look as appear as weird as I felt?
“Hmm.” I wasn’t prepared to order. I really didn’t feel like eating. I just wanted to get out of there. Did I want to go home, or did I want to go to Kent’s bed room. Kent kept playing with me under the table. He seemed content to stay where he was and manipulate my emotions. “I’ll have a BLT Club.” I blurted. She smiled and wrote robotically. Was my face red?
Kent ordered a cheese burger and what else…a Diet Coke. “You guys aren’t very exciting,” I heard Marie say sarcastically as she turned and went into the kitchen.
“I think we are very exciting, don’t you?” asked Kent in a coyish manner.
“I am…I mean, we are!” We both laughed at my little joke.
“Sarah/Maggie. Sarah/Maggie, it is so nice to be together. You know I worried about you.” Then he switched subjects, “I just Left Henry’s. He said you were in there earlier.”

I have to think that this summer more people will be arrested for salt water fishing with out a license that for drive-by shootings in Providence. And certainly more than irresponsible celebrities and thug sports stars.

John Holdrum -- the Admin’s Science advisor and extreme pro-abortion enthusiast who has said a newborn baby isn’t a human until it has been properly socialized – has now doomed the US to perpetual mediocrity. Yesterday in a speech before US science students he esentially enabled Americans to choose loserville and feel good about it. In that speech he said “We can’t expect to be number one in everything indefinitely. He said “Forget about being number 1”. American’s have always said “Why not!” Americans have always seen the challenge and conquered it. Americans have never said I’ll be happy if I do ok.

Twitter is really taking the guts out of information. It makes finding details on the web nearly impossible, as the tweets invariably dominate search results, especially for the more remote stories not properly covered by so-called real journalists.

I have never been much of an Elvis fan, and I think his songs last night on American Idol showed that his popularity wasn’t in his music. Overall – dullsville. BoSox continued her way to the top. I also liked Siobhan and Lee. Mike was very pleasant and maybe one of the more enjoyable for the night. Katie’s voice was strong, but I thought she was a little robotic. Casey was decent but didn’t make it big. I thought Tim was weak, but his song choice may carry him home. Aaron looked sullen and I didn’t think that Andy was as bad as the judges thought he was. So…two go home tonight. One has to be Andy. He has been squeaking by. Aaron deserves to go based on last night. But is he, like Tim, too “cute” to go. My six for the top five are BoSox, Siobhan, Katie, Mike, Lee and Casey.

The Answer:
The heat in peppers is called capsalcin. Pure capsalcin has a SHU rating of 16,000,000 versus sweet bell peppers at 0 SHU. A guy named Wilbur Schoville invented the scale to measure the strength of spicy chemicals in foods. The number represents the drops of water necessary before the pepper juice is undetectable. The hottest pepper at 850,000 is the Bhut Jokolia grown in India. After that we have the Habanero at 500K, Tabasco at 60K, Cayenne at 25K, Jalapeno at 16K and the Anaheim Peppers at 1,000.

The End:

Sarah Palin is in Boston today as the featured speaker in a Tea Party rally on The Common. Expect “Red Cambridge” comrades to be there with demeaning signage. And expect the media to show those signs and and not the calm faces of good tea Party members.

The Polish are bound together in love.