Work interrupts play.

Today's Tids Issue 2,492
Opening Stuff:

Happy Hanukkah Everybody! A lichtigin Chanukah. L'Shanah Tovah.

Americans have been occasionally susceptible to some pretty outrageously silly fads. But, you have love the "Layaway Angels" -- Anonymous good people who walk into stores and pay the remaining bills for the layaway items of those less fortunate. It's a national trend. And one of the nice things I have heard is that a few of the recipients of the kindness are passing it forward, donating some of their paid for layaway items to others in need. Gotta love the American heart.

This is that great day of relief for all of those who miss Summer. The days are getting longer again. Feel warm!

I had a great day yesterday. but not such a hot start this morn. They forgot to deliver along with the paper the comics section! Aaaaaaaaarrrrgh!

I was looking for a good recipe for Christmas day, and I came across a moderately complex lobster dish. But, it was so smothered with herbs and foreign substances that I felt it sacrilegious to offer it to you. Anything that diminishes the pure flavor of fresh lobster with butter is not worth repeating.

The Question:
Give me five funny lines from Ray Romano.

The Headlines:

--Kim Jung un To Share Power With Uncle, Military.
--Stocks Open Down After New Eurofears Rise; Oracle Down 13%; Tech Stocks Following Oracle Down.
--Trump, Paul Among Repubs Considering Third Party Challenge; Divide Would Assure Obama Reign Continuation.
--Wal-Mart, Oracle Earnings Shortfalls Shock Investors; Oracle Disappointment Has WS Worried About Tech.
--ECB (European Central Bank) Lends Banks $639 Bil For Three Years; To Shore Up Financial System Now Under Pressure.
--Nor'Easter Could Make Northeast White For Christmas.
--In Japan, Olympus Offices, Exec Homes Raided By Black Garbed Investigators.

Think about the ills of the world, the hunger and the pain; the people battling outrageous, uncompromising diseases and family losses; Brave men and women dying for the good of others. Compare that with an asshole apoplectic over not having his comics in the morning.

So far, about 20-22 new books about the end of the world have been announced for publishing for 2012. The "End Date" is December 21, a year from now. Expect a rash of doomsday everything for the next 12 months, including preachings, movies and TV programs. Travel companies will be promoting "Bucket List" Get-Aways. Restaurants will promote "Last Meals". It could get crazy. And the crazy will make maddening.

I'm still waiting for somebody in Congress to stand up and say, "Hey, wait a minute"...this tax we're agonizing over isn't really a tax, it's a contribution to the ailing Social Security Pension system."

There are lots of things wrong about Big Time Football. But, I bet you never thought it contributed to lower grades, GPA's. And I'm not talking about "Scholar"-Athletes. In an exhaustive study, the U of Oregon has determined that a winning football team brings down significantly the grades of male students. Their euphoria over the bouncing ball has them studying less and partying more. Talking too much about the game-to-come rather than the square root in a Political science problem. Oh well, the Alums are enjoying it.

The most useless section of our local newspaper is the one that brings us quotes from Our Washington DC congressional delegation. US Senators "Puppy Dog" Reed and "Limo Lib" Whitehouse echo religiously the sentiments of the 0-Man and the Dems. Reps "Who me?" Cicilline and "Hey I'm Here Too" Langevin just float along upon a rain cloud, the huge State Dem majority. There's not an independent, original thought in their brains.

Almost Near: Chapter 56 continues. --"You two talk about when I was gone."
"Only that you were a fool. And weird!'
"Oh good, you still love me. So, what do you two think. Is he going after Samantha?" Tucker looked out the window at a man passing by. "Rudy was a bad guy. He deserved to die."
Audrey looked at Tucker sharply. "What makes you think he was a bad guy?"
"He was, wasn't he. You figure somebody gets bashed by a shovel that somebody's mad at him."
Audrey continued to looked at him. "I'm not sure that Barton is serious about Samantha as a suspect. The necklace is incriminating, But, a lot of the other evidence says no."
"Like what?" Audrey chose her words carefully.
"He thinks it is more likely to have been a man. I don't know the details." She knew the details, but she just wasn't ready to tell Tucker everything she knew.
"Why don't you drop me off at the hotel. I'd like to clean up. Where are you going to be?"
She didn't answer. "Barton wants to see you again."
The car came to a stop in front of the Hotel. "I figured." Tucker reached into the back seat and picked up his small bag. He turned his face to Audrey. "You are a beautiful woman." He squeezed her hand, opened the door and stepped out to the sidewalk. "I'll call you at home," he said over his shoulder.
Audrey watched him walk into the hotel. Then she let go of all the emotions she had been holding inside. Her hands were shaking.

The Answer:
On golf: "I love hitting into the rough. It brings me closer to the people." "My wife gets all the money I make. I just get an apple and clean clothes every morning." “I feel like this is a dream - and I apologize for how I dressed some of you.” "If my father had hugged me one more time, Id be an accountant." "Every parent knows that for a kid, a car is chloroform." " For the sake of you marriage, Get a King-Sized bed. And if you really want to stay marries, get two." "I'll be spending the holidays with my family. Nothing special, just some light bickering and biting sarcasm."

If you don't think about what's going on in the world, then the world is a pretty great place.

Bibbity-Bobbity-Boo.

Today's Tids Issue 2,239

Opening Stuff:

Who woulda thunk it! It's T-Day week. Jeez, I still think it's September. Time flies for romantic fools with their heads in the clouds.

If you like entering the day triumphantly, trying waking up to Ottorini Respighi's 4th Movement of his 2nd Suite of Ancient Airs & Dances. The 3rd movement, BTW, is a pleasant entry into the 4th, just in case you don't like abrupt awakenings! Frankly, you can't go wrong with music touched by Respighi.

If you lose something, just remember that it is always going to be somewhere.

The Question:
I was thinking as I read that Stan "The Man" Musial had turned 90 that truly great players get lost in the over exposure of modern day athletes. How do you think Musial ranks all time against other super stars.

The Headlines:

--Irish Banking Industry To Shrink As Part Of EU Bailout deal; Irish banks Will be Pruned, Sold Or Merged.
--World Stocks Flat As Worries Of Ireland Financial Consequences Remain.
--US Economic Growth To remain Steady But Slow For 2011; High Unemployment And Debt Block Soaring turn-Around.
==Gates And Military Chiefs Concerned Over New Evidence Of Nuke Developement In North Korea.
--Gas Preventing rescue At NZ Mine Collapse; Hopes Wane.
--Israel Parliament Expected To Approve Bill That Would Dispel Hopes For Future Palestine, Syria Peace Deals.

Back to  More Stuff:
Anything for Dollars Department:
The big new trend in NCAA football is games in baseball stadiums. The Ya-Ya-Ya... (WYKWIM) ... Stadium extravaganza of the past weekend pitted a 5-5 team against a 6-4 team (Against so-so competition) with the promotional theme being "They had a great game in 1946". Of course Army and Notre Dame are storied in football lore, but so are Yale and Dartmouth. And even Lehigh and Lafayette. Which just goes to show you, You can sell New Yorkers just about anything if you promote it right. It's even nuttier in Chicago for the first time "Wrigleyville Classic", Because running into brick walls with your head is a bad idea, the officials have come up with an even worse idea. All offensive plays will go the same way! Yikes. That's offensive alright!

American car designers seem to have lost touch with the word "Distinctive".

One of the best sandwiches I have had in a long time was at, believe it or not, Friendly's Ice Cream store. It was a Pesto chicken on focacia bread with several cheeses including Romano. Of course, I have never forgiven them for eliminating their very delicious original "Big Beef" Sandwich.

And then we have this from my favorite Junk Food protege: "Those new Dunkin Donut sausage wrapped in pancakes suck."...as in inedible.

Somehow the name "Bank of America" Skating Rink in downtown Providence loses its local charm.

0-Man is just using a page out of the Clinton playbook: Heavy up on the global scheduling the months after the first term midterm elections. I thought the Messiah just got back from Asia, and this morn I look upon to see him on the Portugal stage.

A friend came to the house last night. He first asked "Where is your Rest room?" Hell, when you get older, you tend to rest in any room.

A biz analyst in TV said yesterday that a country like the US of A can't grow without inflation. Think about that for a minute. What he is basically saying is that Americans are so saturated with stuff, that they don't really need anything more. So you just have to continually have to mark-up prices on essentials to move numbers upward. Obviously it all reverts back to the need for companies show new revenues to increase stock prices. That's how you build houses of cards. That's why booms turn so quickly to bust. So, once the "Boom" word is attached to the economy it may be a good time to go conservative.

The Hollywood/Beverly Hills shooting of Publicist Chasen is still a mystery...and a great one at that.

The Congressional Newbie School has a ratio of 9 Republicans for each new Democrat. Local newbie Cicilini now knows how his RI GOP brethren feel in the RI Assembly. Don't count on him becoming empathetic real soon, though.

While we are in RI, how about that new Governor Elect Chafee. His promise to retract or cancel the Exec Order for e-Verify is all tied to his huge debt owed for the Education Union endorsement. By eliminating the order, Chafee sends out a gold plated invitation, or should I say credit card, to all lawbreaking sneaks who came to the country illegally. (Unlike millions upon millions of good immigrants who did it the right way). The first stop upon arrival in RI will be the Social Services office where they all receive health and assorted benefits at taxpayer expense. Of course they bring children and RI Law says for every 15 new kids you need a new teacher. And then of course a huge percentage can't speak English so these kids are automatically classified as "Special need" children requiring more expensive Special Need teachers. And the beat goes on. And, believe me, this is just step one.

Actually, during the decline of GM, American car designers idea of "Distinctive" was stand-out ugly. Or was that when the accountants were designing the cars?

This is that time of year when newspapers write daily about holiday "stress". I seriously doubt if there would be that much stress if not reminded of it by insecure journalists.

And then they add to created stress when the food editors try to make Thanksgiving Dinners with all the trimmings and gravy and pecan pie...Calorie Free. Nothing like adding a little guilt to increase stress.

The Answer: 
No matter what my team loyalties were, I followed Ted Williams and Stan Musial as a true fan with stars in my eyes. I love the way left handed Stan turned on a ball. Among Hall Of Fame outfielders on the Sabermetrics Chart, it is Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Ty Cobb, Willie Mays, Tris Speaker, Hank Aaron and Stan Musial. Among all players in the Hall, the only others who rank higher are Walter "Big Train" Johnson, Cy Young, Nap Lajoie, Rogers Hornsby, Honus Wagner and Mike Schmidt rank higher.

The End:
Wouldn't be nice if Cinderella's Fairy Godmother hovered over the RI General Assembly and turned those pumpkins into honest realists.