Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Hypocrisy Jihadist Style

You know, it’s hard to be a Murdering Islamic Radical Militant Fanatic. Enforcing Sharia Law through terror, intimidation and mass murder must take its toll on their nerves. Maybe that will explain why we see a little tendency to be self-indulgent. I’m sure Allah will understand.

For example:

The leader of the devout Sunni jihadist group Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, making a rare, solemn appearance in July, wore a flashy silver wristwatch that various video analysts described as either a Rolex or an Omega Seafarer or a feature-laden Saudi Arabian-made timepiece that sells for only about $560.

A week earlier, a Syrian anti-government rebel leader was shown in a video exhorting his troops from notes he had made in his "Hello Kitty" notebook.

And a week after that, a shopkeeper in North Waziristan, lamenting the loss of business when local Taliban fighters abruptly left the area, told a BBC reporter that the jihadists obsessively bought Dove soap, Head & Shoulders shampoo, white underwear ("briefs or Y-fronts"), and "Secret Love" and "Blue Lady" perfumes.

It begs the question: Just who are they trying to look and smell so good for? And Why?


















 Today's Reflection:
I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. -Thomas Jefferson

Live Long and Prosper...

Monday, July 28, 2014

Yep, it’s a weird world we live in…

Enric Girona recently donated his prototype pet commode to the town of El Vendrell, Spain, hoping to spark worldwide interest. Conscientious owners would train their dogs on the station -- a hole in the ground with a flush handle -- which is connected to the sewer system, as is the drain grid next to it (for tinkling). The platform, which appears to occupy about 20 square feet of surface, is self- cleaning (although not too clean, said Girona, because dogs are more easily lured with a lingering scent). Spain is already one of the world's toughest on lazy owners who fail to scoop up after their pets, with fines in El Vendrell as high as the equivalent of $1,000, and in Madrid and Barcelona, $2,000.

After two third-graders wet their pants on May 15 at Mill Plain Elementary School in Vancouver, Wash., they blamed teachers for too-strictly enforcing their classroom's "rewards" system, in which good behavior earns students points redeemable for, among other prizes, restroom breaks. A teachers union investigation concluded that the girls were never "denied" toilet access (but the girls' mothers pointed out that using restroom breaks as a "reward" might be confusing to 8-year-olds).

The Japanese snack company Calbee recently staged a promotion around popular singer Nana Mizuki, giving away 10 backstage passes to her Aug. 3 concert in Yokohama to the purchasers of 10 lucky bags of secretly marked potato chips. Her perhaps-hugest fan, Kazuki Fukumoto, 25, was so determined to win one that by the time he was arrested for littering in May, he had bought and dumped 89 cartons of potato chip packages, weighing over 400 pounds, that were found at six locations around the cities of Kobe and Akashi. Police estimate he had spent the equivalent of about $3,000.

Britain's news website Metro.co.uk, combing Facebook pages, located a full photo array from prominent 23-year-old German body art enthusiast Joel Miggler, whose various piercings and implants are impressive enough, but whose centerpieces are the portholes in each cheek that expose the insides of his mouth. (With customized plugs, he can seal the portholes when soup is on the menu.) The holes are currently 36mm wide, but he was said to be actively cheek-stretching, aiming for 40mm. Miggler assures fans that his mother likes "most" of his modifications and that the worst aspect so far is merely that he is forced to take smaller bites when eating.

Kayla Oxenham, 23, was arrested in Port Charlotte, Florida, in June and charged with using a stick to burn "brands" into the skin of her two children, ages 5 and 7. Among her explanations to police: so she could identify them as being hers and because she "forgot how much she loved fire."

A 60-year-old man with a blood clot has recovered, but no thanks to the driver for the South Western Ambulance Service who was ferrying him on a long trip to the emergency room of Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, England, on April 6. The patient's family later reported that the driver had stopped en route to pick up two hitchhikers -- one a young woman in a "skimpy skirt". The patient, in pain with his toes starting to blacken, eventually had his blood flow restored and did not lose the leg. He reported that the two riders were friendly and wanted to chat about his condition (though he was in no mood).






Today's Reflection:
 When confronted by a difficult problem, you can solve it easily by reducing it to the question, "How would the Lone Ranger handle this?" 






Live Long and Prosper...

Saturday, July 26, 2014

The Battle of Hastings Gap

I first put up this little story in March of 2010. Since then I get periodic requests to re-post it --so here is, just for you...


One hundred and forty five years ago the Civil War spilled over into the western territories and resulted in the little known battle of Hastings Gap.

Hastings Gap was a little fly-speck of a town. It consisted of a few small homes, a few farmers and a scattering of small mining claims. It's one thriving business was a canvas roofed saloon which became the center of the towns social activities on Saturday nights.

On one of those Saturday nights a newspaper had arrived with a long article about the battle of Gettysburg in the war raging back east. As the paper passed around the saloon 2 sides began forming - one group of miners who had come from the south and the other that were supporting the north. Harsh words were exchanged and before long the 2 groups had adjourned into 2 little sheds sitting directly across the road from each other. One side called themselves the "Hastings Gap Volunteers" and began waiving a tattered American Flag. The other group, not to be out done, produced an old cloth with the words "States Rights" scribbled on it and declared themselves the "Hastings Confederate Irregulars". Weapons were brought out and it looked as if hostilities would break out at any minute.

At the height of this activity an old shriveled miner, with a beard down to his waist, came walking calmly up the street pushing a wheel-barrow with a canvas cloth over the top. He stopped in the center of the street directly in the line of fire between the 2 sides. Putting his hands out, palms down, he signaled both sides to lower their weapons for a moment. He then delivered a 10 minute speech about how states rights and slavery were problems of the east. He told the 2 groups that they had come out west seeking their fortunes and had been working in harmony in the little town, giving each other encouragement and support. 

The old miner then closed by saying he had a much better way for the 2 sides to spend their afternoon. Reaching down he pulled the canvas from his wheel borrow uncovering 2 dozen bottles of Irish Whiskey.

The Battle of Hastings Gap ended with an agreement to call a truce until the whiskey could be safely put to good use... 

The next morning the badly hung-over miners returned to working their claims and the Civil War was not fought in Hastings Gap again.



Live Long and Prosper....

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

President Obama – Fundraiser-in-Chief

I guess it’s time for me to say a few choice words about our esteemed President and the magnificent job he is doing leading the country -NOT.

I was just looking over his record and one salient fact keeps repeating itself. Every time there is a crisis, he goes to a fundraising event.

Last Thursday morning, President Obama was off to a party fundraiser in New York. This week, he’s flying to the west coast for another fundraiser with the Hollywood beautiful people. When Obama was in Denver week before last, he attended no less than four cash-gathering events in the space of 24 hours. 


We have a commercial airliner shot down by Russian equipped and trained separatists, ISIS threatening to topple the Iraq government, a major ground offensive in the Gaza strip, a humanitarian crisis on our southern border, Iran getting ever closer to having nuclear weapons and delivery systems, mass murdering and kidnapping of Christians in Nigeria by Al-Qaeda affiliates with more about to be massacred in Mosul -and the leader of the free world is off fund raising for the Democratic Party.

In his first term, Obama attended more fundraising events than any other president in history. From 2008 to 2012 Obama went to 321 events, compared to just 80 for Ronald Reagan. He’s done 72 events in his second term – 34 this year alone. So far, he’s ahead of the pace of George W. Bush, who had been to 30 events at this point in 2006. In his two presidential terms combined, Bush hosted 318 fundraisers. Obama has already smashed that number with 393 events to date and he still has the better part of 2 years to go (God help us).

Now, I certainly understand the importance of raising money, but this President seems to feel that part of his job is more important than protecting and leading the country. The morning after the attack on our consulate in Benghazi he was off to a fund raiser. When Mosul fell to ISIS forces in Iraq –he was off to a fundraiser. The day the Airliner in the Ukraine was shot down, and the Israelis started a major ground offensive in Gaza –he went off fundraising.

He skips his National Security Briefings –but never misses a golf date. He’s quick to comment about a police officer arresting a black man in his own house and about the Trevon-Martin Case, but he’s almost silent about Russian Separatists shooting down a commercial Airliner killing 298 people, including an American. He spends millions and millions of our tax dollars on vacations for himself and his family –then tells us that we need to cut defense spending and supports putting a cap on military pay increases for next year at 1% because there just isn’t enough money to go around.

Hey, I have an idea. In the next election, let’s make him Fundraiser–in-Chief of the United States and let him raise money for the Treasury. Then let’s find a person to be President that actually wants to lead the country….







Today's Reflection:
Today’s way to annoy people: Ask the waitress for an extra seat for your ‘imaginary’ friend.




Live Long and Prosper...

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Doughboy Dead at 71

      Veteran Pillsbury spokesman Pop N. Fresh, died yesterday of a severe yeast infection. He was 71. Fresh was buried in one of the largest funeral ceremonies in recent years. Dozens of celebrities turned out including: Mrs. Butterworth, the California Raisins, Hungry Jack, Betty Crocker and the Hostess Twinkies. The gravesite was piled high with flours and longtime friend, Aunt Jemima, delivered the eulogy, describing Fresh as a man who "never knew how much he was kneaded."

      Fresh rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with many turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, squandering much of his dough on half-baked schemes. Still, even as a crusty old man, he was a roll model for millions. Fresh is survived by his second wife. They have two children and one in the oven. The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.





Today's Reflection:
 Nobody cares if you can't dance.
Just get up and dance anyway!

Live Long and Prosper...

Friday, July 18, 2014

Wierd Politics

Congressional candidate Tim Murray handily lost June's primary election (82 percent to 5 percent) in Oklahoma's 3rd District to incumbent U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas, but he did not give up. In a rambling letter to KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City, Murray accused "Lucas" of being a body-double for Lucas, since it is "widely known" that the "real" Frank Lucas was executed by order of the World Court in southern Ukraine in January 2011. Lucas, asked for a comment, told the station, "It does come as kind of a shock to read that (I'm) not (me)."

Ahh, the "City By-the-Bay": San Francisco's activist Board of Supervisors, among the boldest in the country to rid their cities of obnoxious goods and services, added disposable plastic water bottles to the list in March (to join circumcision, plastic shopping bags and nutrition- challenged "Happy Meals" that contain toys). The water bottle vote was unanimous (covering distribution on city-controlled property), compared to the cliff-hanging 2012 vote (6-5), in which the board finally decided to ban un-clothed people from the streets, where until then some freely wandered downtown sidewalks stark naked.


Jordan Haskins, 24, is Michigan Republicans' best hope for the open state House seat in Saginaw in November, but he is burdened by a teenage past of being "young and stupid," he said in June. Haskins has been in prisons in two states (and is still on parole) stemming from trespassing and breaking-and-entering charges yearly from 2006 to 2011 -- most involving vehicles he used for sex (by himself). (He admits to "cranking," in which he would remove spark plug wires and try to start the car, pleasuring himself while watching the sparks and listening to the noise.) "I was in a messed-up state of mind, mentally and emotionally," he said, but now is proud of the man he has become. "You may not respect my policies (or) my ideas, but you at least have to respect me as a person." (And the GOP wonders why it can't get more candidates elected...).
I liked this story: The county Association of Governments in Phoenix notified Diane "DD" Barker recently that she could continue to address association meetings as a community activist, but was to cease introducing her remarks by performing cartwheels, as she apparently has done several times in the past. Barker, a 65-year-old former Ohio State University cheerleader, said she seeks to demonstrate the value of exercise and public transportation, but agreed to hold off on the cartwheels.





Today's Reflection:
When they come out with a new dog food that is "new and improved and with a better taste" -just who tested it?

Live Long and Prosper...

Thursday, July 17, 2014

A New Agency to Better Recover our MIA’s

The Defense Department has announced that a new agency to replace the troubled POW/MIA accounting community in charge of recovering and repatriating the remains of troops killed in past conflicts will be opened up on Jan. 1st.

The agency will consolidate the work of the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office and the Joint Personnel Accounting Command said Michael Lumpkin, the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict.

Lumpkin testified before the House Armed Services’ military personnel subcommittee, which for years has pressed for reform and in 2009 helped pass a congressional mandate that the DOD recover at minimum of 200 remains annually beginning next year.

The DOD efforts to recover 83,000 Americans still missing from past conflicts have so far fallen far below the goal set by Congress and been dogged by incompetence and dysfunction, including claims agencies ignored leads, arguing against identifying remains in government custody, desecrated and mishandled remains, and failed to keep critical records.

An interim inspector general report outlined some of the problems:

· a remarkably low number of identifications each year — just 60 in 2013

· no standard operating procedures, or central database of the missing

· leadership and management problems resulting in a hostile and dysfunctional work environment

· no acknowledgment that as many as 50,000 missing at sea are unlikely to be recovered

· Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered the overall and consolidation in February and called maximizing the number of identifications a top priority for the DOD.

Jamie Morin, director of DOD Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation, said JPAC and DPMO as well as the Life Sciences Equipment Laboratory, which handles forensic work, will continue on recovery efforts until the new agency is completely operational in 2016.

Plans for the new agency call for:

· Oversight by a newly created DOD policy under secretary who’s central task will be the recovery effort

· A medical examiner in charge of all identification and scientific operations

· Centralized data base and case management system containing all POW/MIA case information

Lumpkin said the department will also try to improve the way it treats the families of those still missing in action.

“From a business perspective, who is the customer here? We haven’t focused on the families as much as we could,” he said. “I think that is the underlying piece we all agreed upon.”








Today's Reflection:

The Catholics have an interesting view of sex; it is disgusting, amoral and filthy and you should save it for one you love.




Live Long and Prosper...

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

A Few Thoughts About The Case of Sgt. Bergdahl

The case of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, held by the Taliban from 2009 until resently, has become a media circus since the U.S. released Taliban Detainees from Gitmo in order to free him.

But was America's only prisoner of the Afghan war a hero or a deserter?

While tattered yellow ribbons adorned utility poles in his native Hailey, Idaho, many people are expressing conflicting thoughts about Bergdahl's actions.

They are convinced that on June 30, 2009, just a few months after he arrived in Afghanistan, Bergdahl willingly walked away from his unit, which was deployed in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan, adjacent to the border with Pakistan. While they certainly wanted Bergdahl home, they think he should now have to answer allegations that he deserted his unit.

This week the Army announced that Bergdahl has returned to regular duty and has been assigned a desk job. This has outraged many of those who viewed his actions as desertion and treason. On Fox’s “The Five”, several comments were made expressing the opinion that he should not be returned to active duty. He should be barred from wearing the uniform. He should not receive his pay and he should not be receiving treatment for the trauma he may have suffered as a result of those years he was a Taliban prisoner. And they said they thought these things should happen now -before he is charged, tried and convicted.

I don’t get it. I understand the desire to have this investigated and for him to be held fully accountable for his actions. But I don’t understand, nor approve of this rush to justice. This is still America and Bergdahl is an American citizen. One of our most important principles in this country is the belief that a person “is innocent until proven guilty”. And that can only be done in a court of law –not on TV or the radio or in the papers by pundits who have little or no access to the facts or evidence.

Don’t misunderstand me. I am not defending Bergdahl. If he is a deserter or a traitor I am the first to want to see him locked in a tiny little cell and the key made into paper clips. No, I am actually defending all of us. I am saying that we (you and I) have rights as Americans and those rights must always be defended and respected –or we all start losing them.

Let’s just wait for this to be investigated –and if the Army or the Federal Government attempts to white wash this or make it disappear for political reasons (which I think they might very well try to do) –then let the media get outraged about that. Let’s keep the pressure on to do this right and find out what actually happened –and then to hold this man fully accountable for whatever he may have done.

But, in the meantime, let’s put the torches and pitchforks away and wait until his guilt is proven beyond a reasonable doubt before we call for his hanging. Let’s show a little respect –not for Bergdahl – for ourselves and good old fashioned American Principles.






Today's Reflection:
People say everything happens for a reason. So, remember that when I slap you up side the head it was for a reason!



Live Long and Prosper...

Saturday, July 12, 2014

The Right Way, the Wrong Way and the Navy Way

As most of you know by now, I am big on the Navy and always have been. That said, our great Navy sometimes shows it is human and does some pretty dumb things. They proved that once again when they put a poster on their Facebook page Titled “Sexual Assault Prevention Tips,” the poster advises readers not to assault anyone. The intention was good, but the poster is really, really stupid.

When I looked at this poster I could not decide if I was insulted and outraged at how dim-witted they think our sailors are, or if I should just sit back and laugh myself silly. I am putting a copy of the poster up at the bottom of this blog post, but just in case you have trouble reading it here are a couple of things it lists as “advise”:

“When you see somebody walking by themselves, leave them alone!”

“If you pull over to help someone with car problems, remember not to assault them!”

“USE THE BUDDY SYSTEM! If you are not able to stop yourself from assaulting people, ask a friend to stay with you while you are in public.”

“Don’t forget, you can’t have sex with somebody unless they are awake!”

Some of the responses on the Facebook page are humorous or sarcastic, but this is the U.S. Navy and many reactions to the poster’s 10 tips were harsh. A few seemed to believe it was a joke. The Navy says it was not.

[B]eyond stupid – juvenile” read one of the 258 comments. “Wow, I had no idea … What a f_cking joke! If Conan doesn’t have a field day with this one, I’ll be surprised,” posted another.

As an Active Duty Service Member for almost 15 years and a SAVI/SAPR advocate for 11 years,” wrote another commenter, “I’m disappointed that this was the best foot forward. If it was YOUR sister or YOUR Sailor would you still think it was funny? Since when did sexual assault become a joke? I must have missed that symposium.

A blog post at the U.S. Naval Institute lambasted the Facebook poster, calling it a “messaging fail of epic proportions.

For my own part, I like to think this was an effort by some of the politically appointed types in the Navy Department and not something put forth by uniformed personnel. Bureaucrats have always impressed me with their inability to see the forest for the trees or to walk and chew gum at the same time.

Putting an end to sexual assault is an important goal, but they really need to take a more serious and adult approach to the subject.




Live Long and Prosper….

Thursday, July 10, 2014

July 10th, 1925: The Scopes "Monkey Trial"




On July 10th, 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee, the so-called "Monkey Trial" began with John Thomas Scopes, a young high school science teacher, accused of teaching evolution in violation of a Tennessee state law.

The law, which had been passed in March, made it a misdemeanor punishable by fine to "teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals." With local businessman George Rappalyea, Scopes had conspired to get charged with this violation, and after his arrest the pair enlisted the aid of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to organize a defense. Hearing of this coordinated attack on Christian fundamentalism, William Jennings Bryan, the three-time Democratic presidential candidate and a fundamentalist hero, volunteered to assist the prosecution. Soon after, the great attorney Clarence Darrow agreed to join the ACLU in the defense, and the stage was set for one of the most famous trials in U.S. history.

On July 10, the Monkey Trial got underway, and within a few days hordes of spectators and reporters had descended on Dayton as preachers set up revival tents along the city's main street to keep the faithful stirred up. Inside the Rhea County Courthouse, the defense suffered early setbacks when Judge John Raulston ruled against their attempt to prove the law unconstitutional and then refused to end his practice of opening each day's proceeding with prayer.

Outside, Dayton took on a carnival-like atmosphere as
an exhibit featuring two chimpanzees and a supposed "missing link" opened in town, and vendors sold Bibles, toy monkeys, hot dogs, and lemonade. The missing link was in fact Jo Viens of Burlington, Vermont, a 51-year-old man who was of short stature and possessed a receding forehead and a protruding jaw. One of the chimpanzees--named Joe Mendi--wore a plaid suit, a brown fedora, and white spats, and entertained Dayton's citizens by monkeying around on the courthouse lawn.

In the courtroom, Judge Raulston destroyed the defense's strategy by ruling that expert scientific testimony on evolution was inadmissible--on the grounds that it was Scopes who was on trial, not the law he had violated. The next day, Raulston ordered the trial moved to the courthouse lawn, fearing that the weight of the crowd inside was in danger of collapsing the floor.

In front of several thousand spectators in the open air, Darrow changed his tactics and as his sole witness called Bryan in an attempt to discredit his literal interpretation of the Bible. In a searching examination, Bryan was subjected to severe ridicule and forced to make ignorant and contradictory statements to the amusement of the crowd. On July 21, in his closing speech, Darrow asked the jury to return a verdict of guilty in order that the case might be appealed. Under Tennessee law, Bryan was thereby denied the opportunity to deliver the closing speech he had been preparing for weeks. After eight minutes of deliberation, the jury returned with a guilty verdict, and Raulston ordered Scopes to pay a fine of $100, the minimum the law allowed. Although Bryan had won the case, he had been publicly humiliated and his fundamentalist beliefs had been disgraced. Five days later, on July 26, he lay down for a Sunday afternoon nap and never woke up.

In 1927, the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned the Monkey Trial verdict on a technicality but left the constitutional issues unresolved until 1968, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a similar Arkansas law on the grounds that it violated the First Amendment.





Today's Reflection:
Help stamp out, eliminate and abolish redundancy!


Live Long and Prosper....


Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Strange, but, Unfortunately True...

A black-and-white house-cat, Lenny, was turned back to a shelter near Rochester, New York, in April, only two days after adoption because the new owner could not tolerate Lenny's flatulence. (A braver second adopter, even though "warned," has taken Lenny in successfully.)

On dairy farms across the country, cows bizarrely queue up, without prodding, to milk themselves by submitting to $250,000 robots that have recently become the salvation of the industry. According to an April New York Times report, this advance appears to be "win-win" (except for migrant laborers watching choice jobs disappear) -- more efficient for the farmer and more pleasant for the cow, which -- constantly pregnant -- usually prefers frequent milking. Amazingly, cows have learned the drill, moseying up to the precise spot to engage the robot's arms for washing and nipple-cupping. The robots also yield copious data tracked from transponders worn around the cow's neck.

Argentinian agricultural scientists in 2008 created the "methane backpack" to collect the emissions of grazing cows (with a tube from the cow's rumen to the inflatable bag) in order to see how much of the world's greenhouse-gas problem was created by livestock. Having discovered that figure (it's 25-30 percent), the country's National Institute of Agricultural Technology announced recently that it will start storing the collected methane to convert it to energy. In a "proof of concept" hypothesis, it estimates that about 300 liters of methane could power a refrigerator for 24 hours.

Researchers from the Polish Academy of Sciences, writing recently in the journal Zoo Biology, reported witnessing 28 acts of fellatio by two orphaned male bears at a sanctuary in Kuterevo, Croatia -- the first-ever report of bear fellatio and the payoff from 116 hours of scientific observation over a six-year period. In each case, the researchers wrote, the older male was the receiver, and the researchers speculated that the episodes were less sexual in nature than a reflection of the bears' "early deprivation of maternal suckling."

The Skin By Molly salon in Brooklyn (and by now, perhaps, competitors) offers "facials" for the derriere (occasioned by a recent social-media fascination with "bum selfies.") Molly's is the "Shiney Hiney Facial" ($65 for a 30-minute treatment), important because, she says, "Acne can flare up anywhere."






Today's Reflection:
Those of of you that believe in telekinesis? Raise my hand!


Live Long and Prosper...

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

July 8, 1776: The Liberty Bell Rings

In Philadelphia, the Liberty Bell rings out from the tower of the Pennsylvania State House (now known as Independence Hall), summoning citizens to the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, by Colonel John Nixon. On July 4, the historic document was adopted by delegates to the Continental Congress meeting in the State House. However, the Liberty Bell, which bore the apt biblical quotation, "Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land unto All the Inhabitants Thereof," was not rung until the Declaration of Independence returned from the printer on July 8.

In 1751, to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of Pennsylvania's original constitution, the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly ordered the 2,000-pound copper and tin bell constructed. After being cracked during a test, and then recast twice, the bell was hung from the State House steeple in June 1753. Rung to call the Pennsylvania Assembly together and to summon people for special announcements and events, it was also rung on important occasions, such as when King George III ascended to the throne in 1761 and to call the people together to discuss Parliament's controversial Stamp Act of 1765. With the outbreak of the American Revolution in April 1775, the bell was rung to announce the battles of Lexington and Concord. Its most famous tolling was on July 8, 1776, when it summoned Philadelphia citizens for the first reading of the Declaration of Independence.

As the British advanced toward Philadelphia in the fall of 1777, the bell was removed from the city and hidden in Allentown to save it from being melted down by the British and used for cannons. After the British defeat in 1781, the bell was returned to Philadelphia, which was the nation's capital from 1790 to 1800. In addition to marking important events, the bell tolled annually to celebrate George Washington's birthday on February 22, and Independence Day on July 4. In 1839, the name "Liberty Bell" was first coined in a poem in an abolitionist pamphlet.

The question of when the Liberty Bell acquired its famous fracture has been the subject of a good deal of historical dispute. In the most commonly accepted account, the bell suffered a major break while tolling for the funeral of the chief justice of the United States, John Marshall, in 1835, and in 1846 the crack expanded to its present size while in use to mark Washington's birthday. After that date, it was regarded as unsuitable for ringing, but it was still ceremoniously tapped on occasion to commemorate important events. On June 6, 1944, when Allied forces invaded France, the sound of the bell's dulled ring was broadcast by radio across the United States.

In 1976, the Liberty Bell was moved to a new pavilion about 100 yards from Independence Hall in preparation for America's bicentennial celebrations.





Today's Reflection:
Help stamp out, eliminate and abolish redundancy! 


Live Long and Prosper...

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Today in History- An Important Event – The 1st Bikini

On July 5, 1946, French designer Louis Reard unveils a daring two-piece swimsuit at the Piscine Molitor, a popular swimming pool in Paris. Parisian showgirl Micheline Bernardini modeled the new fashion, which Reard dubbed "bikini," inspired by a news-making U.S. atomic test that took place off the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean earlier that week.

European women first began wearing two-piece bathing suits that consisted of a halter top and shorts in the 1930s, but only a sliver of the midriff was revealed and the navel was vigilantly covered. In the United States, the modest two-piece made its appearance during World War II, when wartime rationing of fabric saw the removal of the skirt panel and other superfluous material. Meanwhile, in Europe, fortified coastlines and Allied invasions curtailed beach life during the war, and swimsuit development, like everything else non-military, came to a standstill.

In 1946, Western Europeans joyously greeted the first war-free summer in years, and French designers came up with fashions to match the liberated mood of the people. Two French designers, Jacques Heim and Louis Reard, developed competing prototypes of the bikini. Heim called his the "atom" and advertised it as "the world's smallest bathing suit." Reard's swimsuit, which was basically a bra top and two inverted triangles of cloth connected by string, was in fact significantly smaller. Made out of a scant 30 inches of fabric, Reard promoted his creation as "smaller than the world's smallest bathing suit." Reard called his creation the bikini, named after the Bikini Atoll.

In planning the debut of his new swimsuit, Reard had trouble finding a professional model who would deign to wear the scandalously skimpy two-piece. So he turned to Micheline Bernardini, an exotic dancer at the Casino de Paris, who had no qualms about appearing nearly nude in public. As an allusion to the headlines that he knew his swimsuit would generate, he printed newspaper type across the suit that Bernardini modeled on July 5 at the Piscine Molitor. The bikini was a hit, especially among men, and Bernardini received some 50,000 fan letters.

Before long, bold young women in bikinis were causing a sensation along the Mediterranean coast. Spain and Italy passed measures prohibiting bikinis on public beaches but later capitulated to the changing times when the swimsuit grew into a mainstay of European beaches in the 1950s. Reard's business soared, and in advertisements he kept the bikini mystique alive by declaring that a two-piece suit wasn't a genuine bikini "unless it could be pulled through a wedding ring."

In prudish America, the bikini was successfully resisted until the early 1960s, when a new emphasis on youthful liberation brought the swimsuit en masse to U.S. beaches. It was immortalized by the pop singer Brian Hyland, who sang "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini" in 1960, by the teenage "beach blanket" movies of Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon, and by the California surfing culture celebrated by rock groups like the Beach Boys. Since then, the popularity of the bikini has only continued to grow. 





Today's Reflection:
"My cousin just died. He was only 19. He got stung by a bee-the natural enemy of a tightrope walker."
Dan Rather






Live Long and Prosper...




Friday, July 4, 2014

It’s Independence Day!

Happy 4th of July! Like most Americans, the 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays, second only to Christmas. It is the anniversary of the day when we in America signed the Declaration of Independence to explain to the world why we had decided to throw off the tyranny of British rule and absolve ourselves from any loyalty to the crown.

This year I thought it would be good to give you all a little background regarding Independence Day with a few interesting historical facts.

During the American Revolution, the legal separation of the Thirteen Colonies from Great Britain occurred on July 2, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia. After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention to the Declaration of Independence, a statement explaining this decision, which had been prepared by a Committee of Five, with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author. Congress debated and revised the Declaration, finally approving it on July 4. A day earlier, John Adams had written to his wife Abigail:

"The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more."

Adams's prediction was off by two days. From the outset, Americans celebrated independence on July 4, the date shown on the much-publicized Declaration of Independence, rather than on July 2, the date the resolution of independence was approved in a closed session of Congress.

Historians have long disputed whether Congress actually signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, even though Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin all later wrote that they had signed it on that day. Most historians have concluded that the Declaration was signed nearly a month after its adoption, on August 2, 1776, and not on July 4 as is commonly believed.

In a remarkable coincidence, both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the only signers of the Declaration of Independence later to serve as Presidents of the United States, died on the same day: July 4, 1826, which was the 50th anniversary of the Declaration. Although not a signer of the Declaration of Independence, James Monroe, the Fifth President of the United States, died on July 4, 1831. Calvin Coolidge, the Thirtieth President, was born on July 4, 1872, and thus was the only President to be born on Independence Day.







Live Long and Prosper…(and be careful with your fireworks)

Thursday, July 3, 2014

George Washington Assumes Command

On Cambridge common in Massachusetts, George Washington rides out in front of the American troops gathered there, draws his sword, and formally takes command of the Continental Army. Washington, a prominent Virginia planter and veteran of the French and Indian War, was appointed commander in chief by the Continental Congress two weeks before. In serving the American colonies in their war for independence, he declined to accept payment for his services beyond reimbursement of future expenses.

George Washington was born in 1732 to a farm family in Westmoreland County, Virginia. His first direct military experience came as a lieutenant colonel in the Virginia colonial militia in 1754, when he led a small expedition against the French in the Ohio River valley on behalf of the governor of Virginia. Two years later, Washington took command of the defenses of the western Virginian frontier during the French and Indian War. After the war's fighting moved elsewhere, he resigned from his military post, returned to a planter's life, and took a seat in Virginia's House of Burgesses.

During the next two decades, Washington openly opposed the escalating British taxation and repression of the American colonies. In 1774, he represented Virginia at the Continental Congress. After the American Revolution erupted in 1775, Washington was nominated to be commander in chief of the newly established Continental Army. Some in the Continental Congress opposed his appointment, thinking other candidates were better equipped for the post, but he was ultimately chosen because as a Virginian his leadership helped bind the Southern colonies more closely to the rebellion in New England.

With his inexperienced and poorly equipped army of civilian soldiers, General Washington led an effective war of harassment against British forces in America while encouraging the intervention of the French into the conflict on behalf of the colonists. On October 19, 1781, with the surrender of British General Charles Lord Cornwallis' massive British army at Yorktown, Virginia, General Washington had defeated one of the most powerful nations on earth.

After the war, the victorious general retired to his estate at Mount Vernon, but in 1787 he heeded his nation's call and returned to politics to preside over the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The drafters created the office of president with him in mind, and in February 1789 Washington was unanimously elected the first president of the United States.

As president, Washington sought to unite the nation and protect the interests of the new republic at home and abroad. Of his presidency, he said, "I walk on untrodden ground. There is scarcely any part of my conduct which may not hereafter be drawn in precedent." He successfully implemented executive authority, making good use of brilliant politicians such as Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson in his Cabinet, and quieted fears of presidential tyranny. In 1792, he was unanimously reelected but four years later refused a third term. He died in 1799. 





Today's Reflection:
"It's no longer a question of staying healthy. It's a question of finding a sickness you like." 
- Jackie Mason



Live Long and Prosper...

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Getting Ready for the 4th...

This coming Friday is the 4th of July -America's Independence Day. So, in preparation for the party, I was putting together a play list of patriotic music. 

You know, everything from Yankee Doodle to America the Beautiful. And, because this will be for a party, I wanted to include some rock, some country, some current as well as some traditional -a little something for everyone. 

I found enough to fill about 3 and a half hours of continuous music without a repeat. Apparently, we like to sing about America. 

Anyway, while I was listening to them I ran across a few (quite a few, actually) favorites.

Here's one I thought you'd enjoy. It originally came out back in the 70's but sounds like it was written for today:







Live Long and Prosper...