Some people are never happy even when it's free.

Today's Tids Issue # 2,335

Opening Stuff:

I guess people don't dream as much any more because they just pull out their long suffering credit card and buy a plane ticket

The Libyan spokesman for the Rebels says they are disappointed by the UN help. You can please some of the people all of the time, all of the people some of the time, but never all of the people all of the time.

The Question:
What was the name of Dagwood's father? In what town do Blonde and Dagwood live? Bonus: Andre Previn was nominated for 13 Oscars. How many did he win and what were they?

The Headlines:

--US Prepares For Shutdown; Sides Far Apart.
--al-Qaida Is Smelling Blood As Yemen Crisis Deepens.
--Dish Network Acquiring Blockbuster With $228 Mil Bid At Auction.
--Ozone Layer Loses During The Winter.
--Japan Stops Seepage Form Nukes; Now Building Safeguards To Stop, Suppress Explosions.
--Government Decision To Allow Construction Of Massive Nationwide Broadband Network Using Airwaves Next To Those Used For GPS Could Interfere With All Navigation Systems.
--Wall Street Betting That Earnings Will Grow And M&A Will Flourish Has Markets On Upward Track.
--Jamestown Golf Club Hails The First Foursome Of The Year; the Mighty Four Posts A Record Team Total Of 223.

Back to More Stuff:

Obama's budget speech yesterday afternoon was fraught with contradictions...just like any of the other politicians he was ridiculing.

Forget the Mayan calendar. People paying outrageous sums of good money to watch Charlie Sheen do nothing is a sure sign that the end is near.

Have you ever seen so much movie publicity as there has been about naming the cast for the upcoming Three Stooges film. Maybe Sheen would fit right in there.

I see where Bristol Palin made $262,000 about teen pregnancy prevention. Better than going to college. I hear that now men's groups are organizing to sue for equal opportunity. Stay tuned.

Almost Near: Chapter 14 continues: --Samantha talked to Dante as she walked to her car and started the drive downtown to the police station. "Dante! Thanks for calling. I juts spent about a half hour with a woman here in Dalesford who was the neighbor of my parents. It was hard to pay attention to her, but in the end she gave me the name of a detective who could be helpful."
"Can I talk now?" Dante started laughing. "Hey, I think I came up with something too. I was at court when I bumped into an old classmate -- remember Lloyd Cameron?" I don't remember anybody Samantha thought to herself.
"Oh yeah, wasn't he the goofy guy with the black rimmed glasses in the chemistry club?"
"Not even close, he was the curly headed guy on the baseball tema who could pitch like hell." Samantha interjected saying she did remember so he would get to the point. "Well, he is second in command at the police department now, so I asked if he knew anything about the Wilcox family. At first he squinted, then paused. Finally he said 'Why do you ask'?"
"That sounds like something did go on before they moved so quickly."
"He wouldn't talk in the lobby of the courthouses saying he had a meeting. I think there is more to it than that. I'll be seeing after work."
"Maybe we'll both have more juicy stuff by then! Look forward to your report!" Samantha felt good. Kind of. She still didn't really know who she was, or better why she wasn't her anymore.

The Providence Journal has been using this "Truth Meter" idea since the weeks prior to the last elections. The object is noble trying to examine the veracity of political statements and claims. Of course, I worry about built-in bias from a newspaper that told us the best candidates for the two hottest offices were Linc Chafee for Gov and David Cicillini for Congress.

The Answer:
Dagwood originally was the playboy son of billionaire railroad tycoon J. Bolling Bumstead. (Dagwood was so inept as a playboy, that once he got lost in his mansion and had to join a sightseeing tour to find the front door.) With the depression though, a comic strip about a millionaire neer-do-well and a happy go lucky flapper (Blondie) didn't fit the national mood of anguish, so the strip had them married and becoming the ultimate loving family living in Farmville. Bonus: Andre Previn as first nw as a jazz pianist. But his love was classical composition. Along the way he had thirteen Oscar nominations and won four -- for Gigi, Porgy and Bess, Irma la Douce and My fair Lady.

The End:
Have you noticed that the people who get something for nothing are the ones who complain the most?

It doesn't appear that experience in business counts as much as being able to rapidly adapt to new technology. It is probably why middle aged people have more trouble finding better jobs.

As the life expectancy average keeps on rising, I might be approaching middle age again.

Click and Crack.

Today's Tids Issue 2,299
Opening Stuff:

If your are perhaps feeling a little tired of the Winter just think about Click and Crack! The click as the club hits the litttle white pellat 280 yards to the center of the fairway, and the crack of the bat as major League baseball revs up for the Red Sox march to the title. And then or course there is Whapp-Pop, Whapp-Pop, Whapp-Pop...

There was a little story in the paper with a pic of a little pussy cat outside of the venerable 10 Downing Street in London. It provide me with a vision of a kinder-gentler Prime Minister taking in the cute "Tabby" for comfort and calm. Until you learned that the little pussy cat was being hired to take care of the rat problem,. Yes Tabby is a killer. A blood thirsty hired assassin. 009-lives.

And then there was this item about Obama's awarding to the Medals to leading contributors to our society. One was George HW Bush. The little newspaper quickie bio said "He he has given 70 of his 86 years to public service starting when he at "18" joined the Navy." I guess the math was done by the the same people who are trying to tell us that 0-Man's budget is going to save us $1 Trillion over a decade.

One of our all time great observant readers reminded me that Miles Davis was not a pianist but one of the all time great jazz trumpet players...and perhaps one of the most influential jazz musicians of the great jazz era. And, I used to play a Miles Davis LP endlessly. I am losin' it!

The Question: With the days turning a little more Spring-like, I thought I'd move it along with a question about men in short pants...and the Whapp-Pop of tennis balls flittering across nets. Which countries have the most players and contributors elected to the Tennis Hall of Fame. Who were the earliest inductees?

The Headlines:

--Egypt New Sense Of Calm Broken By Agressive Labor Protests; Army Warns.
--Dell Soars Past Profit Estimates; Inspires The Street.
--Borders Declares Bankruptcy; Starts Closing Stores.
--0-Man and Congress Punting Entitlement Football Back And Forth; No Yardage Gained.
--Stuxnet Worm Had Little Or No Effect On Iran Progress Towards Nukes.
--Scottish Deerhound Takes It All In Big Westminster Kennel Club Show.
--Bahrain Protesters Join Club; Small Country Is Home To US Fleet And Center Of US Middle East Ops; Military On Alert.

Back to More Stuff:
You have to love, I think , the Philadelphia English teacher who called out students in a profanity laced blog as "Disengaged, Lazy Whiners". The interesting question here is what's wrong with calling out the unmotivated students as a major ingredient, if not the most important one, in the collapse of US education. Somehow our culture has given some kids the idea that everything comes easy and that there is nothing they don't deserve.

The Egypt protests are over, but it appears the problems are only just beginning. The Labor gangs see it as a moment to request bigger salaries, in a time when there is very little income at all in the country. The jubilation of the mobs on 2/11 was also somewhat more brutal than originally reported by the media. CBS 60 Minutes Journalist Lara Logan was brutally attacked by happy Egyptians including a sustained sexual assault. too many people in Egypt will see the victory by the people as an opportunity for pressing for selfish ideologies or undisciplined rampaging. As I said, the end is the first step in hard beginning.


Yesterday I heard a recording of a well know Country Western singer doing some rap, or whatever it is called. It was significantly unentertaining. I thought you went to CW to get some melodies back.

Oh.. above I alluded to the slight of hand associated with the announcement that the new 0-Man budget would save us $1 Trillion over a decade. That's just a politicians way of saying that instead of my budget adding $8 Trillion to the deficit in a decade, I will only add a number the size of China's economy, $7 Trillion, to the deficit. Beware of politicians baring gifts. In other words this new bold budget just gets us into more hot water.

Most of the Hall of Fame's honoring sports heroes didn't start til the 1930's. But, you got to figure that there were plenty of athletic people in the 16th - 19th Century America. Or, were people just rated for how the worked on the farm or for the good of a community. Who was the first great athlete? Think about how huge athletics is in this society, as opposed to a past where it was barely mentioned if at all.

We often report on the vanishing symbols of America's great past, but has there been a bigger disappearance than that yesterday of The New York Stock Exchange. Yikes! The face of Capitalism now under the control of Germany's Deutsche Boerse, with 60% of the board not US. What's next? The White House owned by Islam nations?

Dell says it is projecting 8-10% in revenue growth for the next year. But, I'd watch this bellwether #2 computer maker closely. Will we learn that it "padded" its forecast, and will its results be depadded. The tech focus in 2011 will indubitably be upon the IPad and all of the many wannabees. This will be fun to watch.

The Answer:
In keeping with the Tids mission of not forgetting the past, I like Questions like this that pay tribute to heroes maybe forgotten as new generations roll in. The Hall was established at Newport's beautiful victorian style Tennis Casino in 1954. The US has 122 members far outdistancing Austalia (25), Great Britain (24), France (10), Sweden (5), Germany (4), Brazil and Italy (2) and Ireland/Mexico (1). The early inductees were Beals Wright, Bob Wrenn, Richard Williams, Hazel Wightman, Malcom Whitman, Holcombe Ward, Bill Tilden, Maude Wallach, Richard Sears, Maurice McLaughlin, Molla Mallory, Art Larson, Bill Larned, Bill Johnston, James Dwight, William clothier, Joseph Clarke,Oliver CampbellMay Sutton Bundy and Mary Kendall Brown. Kind of a surprise isn't it. Some of the early memorable names like Helen Jacobs, Helen Wills Moody, Don Budge or Renee LaCoste didn't get in until ten or so years after these earliest inductees.

The End:
That's me...I think I know something and then I find I don't. I guess that's as good a reason as any to keep on looking because you are bound to learn a lot.

Of course, I'll never understand why Hip-Hop, Rap and other new music genre are considered listenable. I guess it's more about animal instinct.

Actually, some readers may be worrying about me, as a couple of you wrote abut use of "Pot" in the recipe yesterday. And of course today I start with "Crack"!

Big Pile of Money syndrome.

Today's Tids Issue 2,298
Opening Stuff:

Did you ever stop to think how weird it is for the United States of America to be borrowing from China to give financial aid to countries who may or may not like us.

I like almonds quite a bit. I like em' to eat as a snack or toasted in green beans or atop chicken. How come then, I can't stand the taste of almond flavored cookies and other pastries?

Trump for Prez of a USA on the brink of bankruptcy makes sense. After all, who has had more experience at skirting bankruptcy than the Donald. Hair today, gone tomorrow.

The Question:
George Shearing, the great jazz pianist, died yesterday. Many of the great and most popular musicians of the 1950's were jazz pianists. Name five.

The Headlines:

--Weaker January Retail Sales Report Will Probably Send Stocks Lower Today.
--Italy's Berlusconi Indicted In Prostitution Probe.
--Iranian Protesters Facing Sterner Resistance.
--Southern Sudanese Blame North's Khartoum For Thuggery That Has Killed Over 200 In Advance Of Freely Elected Independence.
--IBM's Watson Holds Its Own In Jeopardy Match-up With Two Top Humans.
--Egypt Labor Marches For Higher Wages, Better Working Conditions.
--Dogs Follow Models Into NYC.

Back to More Stuff:
How about some meat before we get to the meat. I'm liking pork scallopini this morn, and it is easy to do. From loin of pork boneless roast slice pieces of about a 1/4 to 3/8's inch. Dredge with flour and sautee 1/4 cp butter about 3 mins each side. Remove from pan and deglaze with 1/4 cup Madeira (Or red of your choice) wine. Pour resultant sauce over pork and serve with favorite veggies and pot. I might saute spinach for this one.

One of my reliable Chicago sources points out that the new 0-Man budget is the first step in a Troy-esque move back to the far left. Typically a place where the 0-man has been unless, as now, political necessity demands he feign a move to the center.

I focus on that proposed Obama cut of the Pell Grants for summer school. Why do they have a fund for summer school in the first place? Why weren't those valuable funds always being used to put a couple of more deserving students into college? And, hey summer school grantees...did you ever think that the summer is a time you could work and maybe offset some of your parents sacrifice to get you through school? I don't want to see the media putting up students complaining about not being able to attend summer school on the taxpayer. No sympathy here.

But then, weren't many of the Obama budget cuts intended to do just that -- Bring out whiners that the media will rush to film.

Where ever there is a big pile of Government Money, there will be somebody there with a way to misuse it.

Almost Near: Chapter 7 continues. --Samantha stood there and stared at that now mysterious door. Locked doors are alluring. And this one for Samantha, felt eerily meaningful to her life. A life that seems new to her now. Yet not real. She tries the knob again. It resists. I'll ask Tucker about when he returns she thinks.
At the bottom of the narrow stairway she turns off the light, and notices a bowl of keys hidden behind a stack of papers near the refrigerator. She takes the bowl without moving the papers, turns the light back on and moves up towards the tempting door at the top.
The fourth key she tried works. It turns. She holds her breath and listens for the sound of anything approaching the house. The knob turns and she shoves open the door. She has to turn sideways to get in through narrow passage.
The room looks to her like a museum honoring one person who may have worked there. A handsome desk surrounded by expensive antiques
was the focal point. The art on the wall was quite remarkable she thought. One artist who seemed very good at capturing the beauty of a special town that looked like here, but not quite. Nothing seemed out of the place.
Samantha pulled open one drawer to find papers neatly bound with those metal fold back style pins. She picked up one and it appeared to be a manuscript. Turning the blank cover page, she gasped. the words she saw said "Days with Aunt Ginny.".

I was going to write a little piece on CBS 60 minutes and how on Sunday I noticed their host trying to get the Egyptian Google Guy Ghonim to acknowledge that their hero 0-Man was significant in the collapse of the evil Mubarak regime. I was going to write that until this morning when I read a Chilean rebuttal to another piece which 60 Minutes did that essentially threw a wet blanket over the heartwarming rescue of 33 miners. I don't watch 60 mins often because basically I don't like the interviewers, and because their journalistic judgment and honesty standards make my hair hurt. Oh, BTW, Ghonim deftly turned the Q about 0-Man's contribution aside with a politically correct answer.

It is interesting to note that while politics is quite a bit less than all of the stuff I write here, most people think I only write about politics. Well maybe not today.

Have you noticed how people like Italy's Berlusconi and Charlie Sheehan think that that their behavior is perfectly normal?

Did you know that the Budget proposed by 0-Man yesterday would add $7.5 Trillion to the national debt in ten years. That is the size of China's total economy! Oh, in case you missed it, China yesterday passed Japan to become the number 2 economy in the world...at $7.5 Trill.

The Answer:
I had quite a collection of jazz Pianist albums in the fifties. I would go into NYC to see the wonderful, blind George Shearing and others. I personally liked Ahmad Jamal and Erroll Garner. But Dave Brubek was close behind as was Duke Ellington and Oscar Peterson. Other notables were Art Tatum, Count Basie, Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, Bill Evans and Horace Silver. I still have many of those 33's, but I fear they are covered with mold in a basement somewhere.

The End:
If you have been paying attention over the past couple of decades you have probably noticed that politicians propose cuts in budgets which they know will get the most vocal response; A response that will surely lend it self to media soundbites. This time however, we may have to have more people crying in the wilderness. It's real.

I think tomorrow's Tids will be funnier, and no political negativity. Unless somebody does something stupid.