Just Some Bits And Pieces

Tucson Weather Today

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Fun Factoid:

In July 1902 Theodore Roosevelt named Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. as his first appointee to the Supreme Court. Twenty months later Holmes voted against his president in the biggest railroad trust-busting case of the time, United States v. Northern Securities.

"I could carve out of a banana a judge with more backbone than that," Roosevelt declared.

LINK

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Is This A Sexist Image?

The above picture was taken from an entry in Taslima's blog titled Sexism Still Exists and I found the sexism claim to be trivial and silly (and said so in a below the blog 'comment'.) It's advertising, is all. It works. And for all I know it might even have been conceived by a female advertising agent.

Sexism? Good Grief!

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Things Dr. Oz Will Probably Not Tell You

What's so great about the pomegranate?

Pom Wonderful company says it's a miraculous health food.

What's so wonderful about Pom Wonderful?

What Pom Wonderful says about POM Wonderful:


AlterNet says Pom Wonderful is a SCAM.

What AlterNet says about POM Wonderful:

What the bible says about the pomegranate:

"I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother's house, who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate."
--Song of Solomon 8:2

(Hey! Is that some kind of poetic sex metaphor?)

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WORD OF THE DAY

semiotics or semiology
noun
The science that deals with signs or sign language.
The use of signs in signaling, as with a semaphore.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Wild Bill Hickok

 Born May 27, 1837
Died Aug, 02, 1876

James Butler Hickok, better known as Wild Bill Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West. His skills as a gunfighter and scout, along with his reputation as a lawman, provided the basis for his fame, although some of his exploits are fictionalized.

ALSO

Harlan Ellison

 

Born May 27, 1934

Harlan Jay Ellison is an American writer. His principal genre is speculative fiction.

ALSO

Vincent Price

 

Born May 27, 1911
Died Oct. 25, 1993

Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic performances in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.

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When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.
--Ernest Hemingway

What Will Be Will Be (?)

Tucson Weather Today

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Okay, I have just begun to work on the first of a series of recollections from my younger days. If all goes as planned, each will be presented here in the blog in the form of a fictional story, even though most of the incidents will (for the most part) be true happenings, or at least based on true happenings. Don't know how long it will take before I am satisfied with it. Could be a day or two, or three or four, or quite a bit longer.

Sometimes while revising the first rough draft of a story I have been known to dwell upon the best choice of a  particular word or phrase for way too much longer than would seem necessary to a normal person.

Yeah, I do.

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Last Sunday, out on the pool deck at my son's house, a big black widow spider made itself known. I snapped a shot of it just before it seems to have somehow mysteriously disappeared forever.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Robert William Chambers
 
Born May 26, 1865
Died Dec. 16, 1933

 Robert William Chambers was an American artist and writer. His most famous, and perhaps most meritorious, effort is The King in Yellow, an 1895 collection of weird short stories, connected by the theme of the fictitious drama The King in Yellow, which drives those who read it insane. E. F. Bleiler described The King in Yellow as one of the most important works of American supernatural fiction.

 The King In Yellow is available for download FREE in Kindle edition from Amazon.com.

Here is the link

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Things To Come

Tucson Weather Today

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One of the earliest tips I received from the professionals when I decided to become a writer was, "Write what you know." The trouble was, being quite young at that time I was convinced that I knew a great deal about everything.

When I finally realized how little I did know, I set out to learn about life.

I learned (the hard way, as always) about:

- How different people in different locations acted and reacted to a sudden stranger in their midst while on the road in the 1950s.

- Las Vegas in the 1960s as seen by a penniless drifter temporarily lodged within a dingy room in a cheap hotel.

- What it was like to be broke and hungry in a small town in Nebraska and then be hired to rake hay in the meadows of a huge ranch.

- Walt Disney World in the 1990s through the eyes of a Houseman slinking around among the chambermaids and the janitors soaking up the truths of the underground beneath the glitter of The Magic Kingdom.

And more . . .


If I can do that to my own satisfaction I might in upcoming days fill this blog with (mostly) true recollections of the various incidents that befell me in those early times.

I might . . .

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What To Do . . .

Tucson Weather Today

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I am still considering a complete change of content for this blog. It's either that or abandon it altogether.

Also, I am thinking about buying a Kindle.

Decisions, decisions, decisions . . .

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WORD FOR TODAY

vernacular [ver-NACK-yew-luhr]
Noun   
The language or dialect spoken by the ordinary people in a particular country or region.

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BORN ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY


Gary Burghoff 

 Born May 24, 1943

Gary Richard Burghoff is an American actor, known for playing the character Corporal Walter Eugene "Radar" O'Reilly in the M*A*S*H movie and TV series.

ALSO


Priscilla Presley

Born May 24, 1945

Priscilla Presley is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the ex-wife of singer Elvis Presley, and the mother of singer-songwriter Lisa Marie Presley.

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All our final decisions are made in a state of mind that is not going to last.
--Marcel Proust

To Live Is To Change

Tucson Weather Today

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I am finding it more difficult each day to write anything worthwhile. This may be because of a weakening of my mental abilities due to advancing age. Or it might be because I have reached a loftier plateau in my lifelong climb toward the higher peaks of laziness. Or it could be that I never actually possessed any special mental abilities in the first place.

Anyway, I have been thinking of abandoning the present infrastructure of this blog and redesigning it completely... as to content that is.

We shall see what we shall see.

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WORD FOR TODAY

paean [pee-uhn]
noun
Any loud and joyous song; a song of triumph.
An enthusiastic expression of praise.

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BORN ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY

Drew Carey

Born May 23, 1958

Drew Allison Carey is an American actor, comedian, sports executive, and game show host.

ALSO


Michael William Chambers

My Eldest Son

Born May 23, 1960


ALSO


Ken Jennings

 

Born May 23, 1974

Kenneth Wayne "Ken" Jennings III is an American game show contestant and author. Jennings is noted for holding the record for the longest winning streak on the U.S. syndicated game show Jeopardy! and as being the all-time leading money winner on American game shows.

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Forgive, son; men are men; they needs must err.
--Euripides

73rd Birthday

 Tucson Weather Today

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Last Saturday, May 19, 2012 marked the 73rd anniversary of my birth. Now I am not only a cantankerous curmudgeon, I'm a really, really old cantankerous curmudgeon.

My eldest son and his wife took me out to dinner on my birthday. Also along to 'celebrate' was my daughter and two grandsons. We dined at a restaurant with an Old West theme. For the most part the menu was different cuts of beef, mostly huge steaks. But there was also mashed potatoes with thick and hearty deep brown gravy. And smoke grilled sweet corn -- and western style beans. The waiters were all dressed as early American cowboys, faded denim jacket-shirts and jeans, boots, and ten gallon stetsons. Our waiter said his name was Doc Holliday.

Midway through the meal a tall, lean lawman strolled through the room, pausing at each table to make fun of the most tender-footed among us.


The next day, Sunday, we all went shopping, at Trader Joe's and several other retail stores, mostly featuring organic foods and fruits, such as Sunflower Foods. In the late afternoon my son grilled a variety of things, including a beer can chicken using a can of cream soda instead of beer. Delicious. Oh, and a big bowls of fresh shrimp, too.

One of my grandsons soaking up poolside rays

The water temperature in the pool was just right for those who like to swim, including the three dogs.

Which reminds me --

Eva was on her best behavior.

(In my opinion.)

That evening we all watched the solar eclipse, through proper dark glasses, of course.

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WORD FOR TODAY

panacea  [pan-un-see-uh]
noun
1.  A remedy claimed to be curative of all problems or disorders; a cure-all.
2.  An answer or solution for all problems or difficulties:

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BORN ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY


 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Born May 22, 1859
Died July 07, 1930

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes,

ALSO

Sir Laurence Olivier

Born May 22, 1907
Died July 11, 1989

Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, was an English actor, director, and producer. One of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century, he was the youngest actor to be knighted and the first to be elevated to the peerage. Actor Spencer Tracy said that Olivier was 'the greatest actor in the English-speaking world.'

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There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition.
--Rod Serling

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