Ugliness Abounds . . .

Tucson Weather Today

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George Will has written another pointed column titled Blowing the whistle on the federal Leviathan about how the federal government attacks and persecutes innocent citizens through mindless bullying and bureaucratic stupidity.

Below is the first paragraph of the nearly unbelievable story:

The huge humpback whale whose friendliness precipitated a surreal seven-year -- so far -- federal hunt for criminality surely did not feel put upon. Nevertheless, our unhinged government, with an obsession like that of Melville’s Ahab, has crippled Nancy Black’s scientific career, cost her more than $100,000 in legal fees -- so far -- and might sentence her to 20 years in prison. This Kafkaesque burlesque of law enforcement began when someone whistled.

Read this column here


Good Gravy! Almost every day I admonish myself for my enduring negativity, commanding my self to look for positive subjects to write about in the blog. Somehow I always seem to fail in that endeavor. Bad things happen to good people. And bad things happen to bad people. If good things ever happen to good people, these events seem to be hidden from my futile search. There seems to be so much more bad stuff out there than good.

Or perhaps I really am just a grumpy old curmudgeon and only seek out the sordid, the scandalous, and the gloomy side of human activity.

Yeah . . . that's probably it.

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WORD FOR TODAY

corrugate
v.tr.
To shape into folds or parallel and alternating ridges and grooves.
v.intr.
To become shaped into such folds or ridges and grooves.

"Now the immense ocean . . . sensed the change. Its surface rippled and corrugated where sweeping cloud shadows touched it"
--John Updike

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Wil Wheaton

Born July 29, 1972

Age: 39 years old.

Richard William "Wil" Wheaton III is an American actor and writer. As an actor, he is best known for his portrayals of Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gordie Lachance in the film Stand by Me, Joey Trotta in Toy Soldiers and his recurring role playing himself on the sitcom, The Big Bang Theory. As a writer, he is best known for his blogs Wil Wheaton dot Net and WWdN: In Exile.

   
Clara Bow


Born July 29, 1905
Died Sept 27, 1965

Clara Gordon Bow was an American actress who rose to stardom in the silent film era of the 1920s. It was her appearance as a spunky shop girl in the film It that brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl". Bow came to personify the roaring twenties and is described as its leading sex symbol. She appeared in 46 silent films and 11 talkies, including hits such as Mantrap (1926), It (1927) and Wings (1927). She was named first box-office draw in 1928 and 1929 and second box-office draw in 1927 and 1930. Her presence in a motion picture was said to have ensured investors, by odds of almost 2-to-1, a "safe return". In January 1929, at the apex of her stardom, she received more than 45,000 fan letters. After marrying actor Rex Bell in 1931, Bow ended her career in 1933 with the film Hoop-La, becoming a rancher in Nevada.

Peter Jennings

 Born July 29, 1938
Died Aug. 7, 2005

Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings, CM was a Canadian American journalist and news anchor. He was the sole anchor of ABC's World News Tonight from 1983 until his death in 2005 of complications from lung cancer. A high-school dropout, he transformed himself into one of American television's most prominent journalists.

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Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
--P. J. O'Rourke

Intelligent Design And Creationism

Tucson Weather Today

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According to Wikipedia, Intelligent design (ID) is a form of creationism promulgated by the Discovery Institute. The Institute defines it as the proposition that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection."

Intelligent Design is a full two-hour video of a Nova program explaining much about ID. It's available free of charge at the link below. It is best viewed in Full Screen.

Intelligent Design link


Most members of the human race seem to believe that being human automatically makes one superior to all other known types of biological life. They believe this, not because it is necessarily true, but simply because they were conditioned to believe it while they were impressionable children.

Although I have nothing to support my own interpretation of biological life on Earth, I believe that some kind of intelligent design is possible within the complexity of the vast universe or even somehow externally from it. But this does not lead me to believe the mythical nonsense preached by today's foolish array of contemporary religious institutions. Nor does the theory that humans, within some grand scheme of things, count for more than does the lowest single-celled creature dwelling at the bottom of the sea.

Why do I believe what I do? I don't know... I just do.

Why do you believe what you believe?

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For those who might like to vote on the Chick-Fil-A question regarding same-sex marriage, below is the link to that location.

Chick-Fil-A link

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WORD FOR TODAY

relativity
noun
1.
the state or fact of being relative.
2.
Physics - a theory, formulated essentially by Albert Einstein, that all motion must be defined relative  to a frame of reference and that space and time are relative,  rather than absolute concepts: it consists of two principal parts. The theory dealing with uniform motion (special theory of relativity or  special relativity)  is based on the two postulates that physical laws have the same mathematical form when expressed in any inertial system, and the velocity of light is independent of the motion of its source and will have the same value when measured by observers moving with constant velocity with respect to each other. Derivable from these postulates are the conclusions that there can be no motion at a speed greater than that of light in a vacuum, mass increases as velocity increases, mass and energy are equivalent, and time is dependent on the relative  motion of an observer measuring the time. The theory dealing with gravity (general theory of relativity or  general relativity)  is based on the postulate that the local effects of a gravitational field and of acceleration of an inertial system are identical.
3.
dependence of a mental state or process upon the nature of the human mind: relativity of values; relativity of knowledge.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis


Born July 28, 1929
Died May 19, 1994

Jacqueline "Jackie" Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis was the wife of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, and served as First Lady of the United States during his presidency from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Five years later she married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.

Sally Struthers

 Born July 28, 1948

Age: 63 years old.

Sally Ann Struthers is an American actress and spokeswoman, best known for her roles as Gloria Stivic on All in the Family, for which she won two Emmy awards

Joe E. Brown


Born July 28, 1892
Died July 6, 1973

Joseph Evans Brown was an American actor and comedian, remembered for his amiable screen persona, comic timing, and enormous smile. In 1902 at the age of nine, he joined a troupe of circus tumblers known as the Five Marvelous Ashtons who toured the country on both the circus and vaudeville circuits. Later he became a professional baseball player. After three seasons he returned to the circus, then went into Vaudeville and finally starred on Broadway. He gradually added comedy into his act and transformed himself into a comedian. He moved to Broadway in the 1920s first appearing in the musical comedy Jim Jam Jems.

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The insufferable arrogance of human beings to think that Nature was made solely for their benefit, as if it was conceivable that the sun had been set afire merely to ripen men's apples and head their cabbages.
--Cyrano de Bergerac

Why I Am Not An Atheist

Tucson Weather Today

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I am not an atheist for the same reason I am not a theist; both the atheist and the theist look down upon me as being an inferior little fellow -- an ignorant lout of a person who must be educated into one or the other of their differing personal conclusions as to what life is all about.

The theist feels it is a duty to persuade me that there is a specific supernatural being who is responsible for the creation of all things and that the human race that this creator has brought into existence is somehow special. And even though there is not the slightest indication of proof that this claim is valid, I must believe that it is so. Because this theist says that it is so.

The atheist feels it is a duty to persuade me that there is certainly no supernatural being who is responsible for the creation of all things and that the human race simply sprang into existence through natural means, by way of biological processes and ordered chemical reactions within a natural universe. And I must believe this because the atheist says it is so.

Both the theist and the atheist in their monumental arrogance believe themselves superior to me, a person who really doesn't give a hoot which of them is or is not correct. They both therefore feel compelled (for some reason) to bring me around to their way of thinking.

But I believe that it does not really matter why I exist (if I actually do exist) because my puny human mind with its limited sensory and limited imaginative abilities is not equipped to grasp the mysteries of the overall workings of the universe.

Do I believe in creationism?

Well, after all, within the realm of infinite possibility itself, there surely can exist some humanly unimaginable mighty force inside or outside the universe that brought about the beginning, or the Big Bang... or whatever.

And that about sums it all up.

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WORD FOR TODAY


sangria [sahn-GREE-un]
noun
Spanish drink of red wine, fruit juice, sugar and soda water.

Recipe For Sangria

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Jerry Van Dyke

Born July 27, 1931
Age: 80 years old.

Jerry Van Dyke is an American comedian and actor. He is the younger brother of comedian and actor Dick Van Dyke, and made his acting debut on The Dick Van Dyke Show with several guest appearances as Rob Petrie's brother, Stacey. Later in his career, he was one of the stars in the TV sitcom Coach (1989–1997).

Bobbie Gentry

Born July 27, 1944
Age: 67 years old.

Roberta Lee Streeter, professionally known as Bobbie Gentry, is an American former singer-songwriter notable as one of the first female country artists to compose and produce her own material. Her songs typically drew on her Mississippi roots to compose vignettes of the Southern United States. Gentry shot to international fame with her intriguing Southern Gothic narrative "Ode to Billie Joe" in 1967.

Norman Lear

Born July 27, 1922

Age: 89 years old.

Norman Milton Lear is an American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times and Maude. As a political activist, he founded the civil liberties advocacy organization People For the American Way in 1981 and has supported First Amendment rights and liberal causes.

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Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?
--Douglas Adams

Heading Home

I will be heading back home from the desert later this afternoon where I have been for the last week.

Hope to have a new blog post tomorrow.

Who Cares? . . . Nobody.

Tucson Weather Today

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For several years now I have been trying to judiciously sort through all the trashy input I've received over the course of my lifetime (so far) and come to some acceptable conclusion as to what I am.

As I have said and written many times, I am not an atheist. But neither am I a card-carrying theist.

But, why must I be something? Why can I not just keep my mouth shut and my keyboard inactive about the whole idea of religion? After all, nobody really cares what I believe or do not believe. And why should they?

Boy, am I ever glad that's settled.

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WORD FOR TODAY

paean [pee-uhn]
noun
A song of praise or triumph.
A thing that expresses enthusiastic praise.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

   
Alex Trebek

 

Born July 22, 1940
Age: 71 years old

George Alexander "Alex" Trebek is a Canadian television personality. He has been the host of the syndicated game show Jeopardy! since 1984; before that, he hosted other game shows, including The Wizard of Odds, High Rollers, and Pitfall. Trebek has made appearances in numerous television series, usually portraying himself. A native of Canada, he became a naturalized United States citizen in 1998.

Danny Glover


Born July 22, 1947
Age: 64 years old

Danny Lebern Glover is an American actor, film director, and political activist. Glover is well known for his roles as Mr. Albert Johnson in The Color Purple, as Michael Harrigan in Predator 2, as corrupt cop James McFee in Witness, as Detective Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film franchise (where he coined the catchphrase "I'm too old for this shit"), as Detective David Tapp in Saw, and as George Knox in Angels in the Outfield. He has also appeared in many other movies, television shows, and theatrical productions. He is an active supporter of various humanitarian and political causes.

Rose Kennedy


Born July 22, 1890
Died Jan. 22, 1995

Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald Kennedy was an American philanthropist, the wife of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., and the mother of nine children, among them United States President John F. Kennedy, United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and United States Senator Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy.

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I am part of the sun as my eye is part of me. That I am part of the earth my feet know perfectly, and my blood is part of the sea. There is not any part of me that is alone and absolute except my mind, and we shall find that the mind has no existence by itself, it is only the glitter of the sun on the surfaces of the water.
--D. H. Lawrence

Using Religion To Bilk The Masses

Tucson Weather Today

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Callista Gingrich phoned me yesterday via a voice-recording begging me to help her bring an important message from God to the American people.

According to Wikipedia, Callista Louise Gingrich (née Bisek, born March 4, 1966) is the President of Gingrich Productions, a production company based in Washington, D.C. She is married to former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and 2012 Republican Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich.

Callista Gingrich

 Gingrich and her husband host and produce historical and public policy documentaries, editorials and advocacy films. Recent films include A City Upon a Hill; America at Risk; Nine Days that Changed the World; Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous with Destiny; Rediscovering God in America; Rediscovering God in America II: Our Heritage and We Have the Power.

Gingrich is the voice for several of her husband's audio books, including To Save America; Valley Forge; 5 Principles for a Successful Life; Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less; The Art of Transformation; Real Change; Contract with the Earth; and Rediscovering God in America.

Also according to Wikipedia, Callista Bisek met Newt Gingrich in 1993 when he was House Minority Whip and she was working in the office of Congressman Gunderson. Callista testified in 1999 as part of Gingrich's divorce proceedings that the couple began a six-year affair in 1993 while Newt was married to his second wife, Marianne. Newt divorced Marianne in December 1999, and on August 18, 2000, Callista and Newt were married in a private ceremony in Alexandria, Virginia.[4] In 2002, Newt Gingrich asked the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta to annul his 19-year marriage to Marianne on the basis that she had been previously married. Callista, a lifelong Catholic, was instrumental in her husband's conversion to that faith in 2009.

This woman is asking me to send money.

So she can do God's work.

Imagine that.

Gives additional impetus to ROTFLMAO.

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WORD FOR TODAY

maar [mahr]
noun
volcanic crater without a cone, usually filled by a lake.

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Born On This Date In History


Robin Williams

 Born July 21, 1951
Age: 60 years old.

Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork & Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting. He has also won two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globes, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and five Grammy Awards.

Don Knotts

Born July 21, 1924
Died Feb 24, 2006.

Jesse Donald "Don" Knotts was an American comedic actor best known for his portrayal of Barney Fife on the 1960s television sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, a role which earned him five Emmy Awards. He also played landlord Ralph Furley on the 1970s and 1980s television sitcom Three's Company.

   
Ernest Hemingway

 Birthday: July 21, 1899
Death Date: Jul 2, 1961

Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economical and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. He published seven novels, six short story collections and two non-fiction works. Three novels, four collections of short stories and three non-fiction works were published posthumously. Many of these are considered classics of American literature.

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All good books have one thing in common - they are truer than if they had really happened.
--Ernest Hemingway

My Favorite Author's Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

CORMAC McCARTHY

 

Cormac McCarthy  (born Charles McCarthy; July 20, 1933) is an American novelist and playwright. He has written ten novels, spanning the Southern Gothic, Western, and Post-apocalyptic genres. He won the Pulitzer Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction for The Road (2006). His 2005 novel No Country for Old Men was adapted as a 2007 film of the same name, which won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. For All the Pretty Horses (1992) he won both the U.S. National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award. All the Pretty Horses and The Road were also adapted as motion pictures.

 

The Hustler

Tucson Weather Today

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The Hustler is a movie about pool hustler Fast Eddie Felson, filmed back in the 1960s. Felson is played by Paul Newman. He shoots championship pool against the famous Minnesota Fats, played by Jackie Gleason. The love interest is provided by Piper Laurie, and the antagonist is played by George C. Scott. I watched the movie on PBS (no commercials) late last night and didn't get to bed till after eleven, which is really late, for me.

There is something about that old movie that touches my emotions like none of the newer films seem able to do. Don't know why.

The Film Can video description of The Hustler.

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WORD FOR TODAY

hustler [huhs-ler]
noun
1.
an enterprising person determined to succeed; go-getter.
2.
Slang . a person who employs fraudulent or unscrupulous methods to obtain money; swindler.
3.
Informal . an expert gambler or game player who seeks out challengers, especially unsuspecting amateur ones, in order to win money from them: He earned his living as a pool hustler.
4.
Slang . a prostitute.
5.
a person who hustles.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Ariana Huffington

 

Born July 15, 1950
Age: 61 years old.

Arianna Huffington (formerly Stassinopoulos) is an American author and syndicated columnist. She is best known for her liberal news website The Huffington Post. A popular conservative commentator in the mid-1990s, she adopted liberal political beliefs in the late 1990s. She is the ex-wife of former Republican congressman Michael Huffington. In 2011, AOL acquired The Huffington Post for US$315 million and made Huffington president and editor in chief of The Huffington Post Media Group, which included The Huffington Post and then-existing AOL properties such as Engadget, AOL Music, Patch Media, and StyleList.

ALSO


Jesse Ventura

Born July 15, 1951
Age: 60 years old.

James George Janos, better known as Jesse Ventura, is an American politician, actor, author, veteran, and former professional wrestler who served as the 38th Governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003.

ALSO


Forest Whitaker


Born July 15, 1961
Age: 50 years old.

Forest Steven Whitaker is an American actor, producer, and director. He has earned a reputation for intensive character study work for films such as Bird and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, and for his recurring role as ex-LAPD Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh on the gritty, award-winning television series, The Shield. Whitaker won an Academy Award for his performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the 2006 film The Last King of Scotland. In 1986, he appeared in Martin Scorsese's film, The Color of Money (with Paul Newman and Tom Cruise), and in Oliver Stone's Platoon. The following year, he co-starred with Robin Williams in the comedy Good Morning, Vietnam.

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A golf course is nothing but a pool room moved outdoors.
--Frank Butler

A Load Of Crap

Tucson Weather Today

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From a NASA Media Advisory:

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA and partners from the LAUNCH: Beyond Waste forum will discuss innovative ideas for waste management during a 3-day forum July 20-22. Waste management is important for planning long-duration human spaceflight missions to an asteroid, Mars or beyond.

How much does it cost, I wonder, to finance a 3-day forum to discuss the dissemination of waste products?

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WORD FOR TODAY

feces [fee-seez]
noun
Definition:   excrement
Synonyms:  dung, egesta, ejecta, ejectamenta, excreta, feculence, ordure

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Dale Robertson

 

Born July 14, 1923

Age: 88 years old.

Dayle Lymoine "Dale" Robertson is an American actor best known for his starring roles on television. He played the role of Jim Hardie in the TV series, Tales of Wells Fargo, and the owner of an incomplete railroad line in ABC's The Iron Horse, often appearing as the deceptively thoughtful but modest western hero.

ALSO


Gerald R. Ford

 

Born July 14, 1913
Died Dec 26, 2006

Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King, Jr.) was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974. As the first person appointed to the vice-presidency under the terms of the 25th Amendment (after Spiro Agnew had resigned), when he became President upon Richard Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974, he became the only President of the United States who was never elected President nor Vice-President by the Electoral College. Before ascending to the vice-presidency, Ford served nearly 25 years as the Representative from Michigan's 5th congressional district, eight of them as the Republican Minority Leader.

ALSO


John Chancellor


Born July 14, 1927
Died July 12, 1996

John William Chancellor was a well-known American journalist who spent most of his career with NBC News. He served as anchor of the NBC Nightly News from 1970 to 1982 and continued to do editorials and commentaries for NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw until 1993.

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"The Earth is just too small and fragile a basket for the human race to keep all its eggs in."
--Robert Heinlein

Distinguished Warfare Medal?

Tucson Weather Today

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The Pentagon is considering awarding a Distinguished Warfare Medal to drone pilots who work on military bases often far removed from the battlefield.

From SALON: Bravery and drone pilots

The Pentagon considers awarding war medals to those who operate America's death-delivering video games

By Glenn Greenwald

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WORD FOR TODAY

valor [val-uhr]
noun   
Great courage in the face of danger, esp. in battle: "acts of valor".

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Harrison Ford

Born July 13, 1942
Age: 69 years old

Harrison Ford is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. His career has spanned six decades and includes roles in several Hollywood blockbusters, including Presumed Innocent, The Fugitive, Air Force One, and What Lies Beneath. At one point, four of the top six box-office hits of all time included one of his roles.

ALSO


Patrick Stewart


Born July 13, 1940
Age: 71 years old

Sir Patrick Stewart, OBE is an English film, television and stage actor, who has had a distinguished career in theatre and television. He is most widely known for his television and film roles, such as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and its successor films, Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men film series, and as the voice of Avery Bullock in American Dad!.

ALSO


Bob Crane

 

Born July 13, 1928
Died June 29, 1978

Robert Edward "Bob" Crane was an American actor and disc jockey, best known for his performance as Colonel Robert E. Hogan in the television sitcom Hogan's Heroes from 1965 to 1971, and for his 1978 murder, which remains officially unsolved.

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The number of medals on an officer's breast varies in inverse proportion to the square of the distance of his duties from the front line.
--Charles Edward Montague

In A Nutshell

Tucson Weather Today

 

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I have trouble accepting the unsubstantiated premise that biological life, including human life, is anything more meaningful than the natural progression of cellular propagation. Further, I feel that anyone who sincerely believes to the contrary, who believes for example, that mankind was created to rule over all other lifeforms, known or unknown, is . . .

'nuff said?

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WORD FOR TODAY


pique [peek]
verb
Stimulate (interest or curiosity).
Feel irritated or resentful.
1.
to affect with sharp irritation and resentment, especially by some wound to pride.
2.
to wound (the pride, vanity, etc.).
3.
to excite (interest, curiosity, etc.).
4.
to arouse an emotion or provoke to action: to pique someone to answer a challenge.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Bill Cosby

 

 

Born July 12, 1937
Age -- 74 years old

William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the situation comedy The Bill Cosby Show.

ALSO


Milton Berle

 

 

Born July 12, 1908
Died Mar 27, 2002

Milton Berle (born Milton Berlinger) was an American comedian and actor. As the host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater (1948–55), he was the first major American television star and was known to millions of viewers as "Uncle Miltie" and "Mr. Television" during TV's golden age.

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Life is without meaning. You bring the meaning to it. The meaning of life is whatever you ascribe it to be. Being alive is the meaning.
--Joseph Campbell

Phun With Philosophy

 Tucson Weather Today

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I have lately been delving into the complexities of ontology.

Ontology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence, or reality, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations. Traditionally listed as a part of the major branch of philosophy known as metaphysics, ontology deals with questions concerning what entities exist or can be said to exist, and how such entities can be grouped, related within a hierarchy, and subdivided according to similarities and differences.

Clearly, to accept the above definition, there must be agreement as to what an entity is or is believed to be, and what existence is or is believed to be.

An entity is something that exists by itself, although it need not be of material existence. In particular, abstractions and legal fictions are usually regarded as entities. In general, there is also no presumption that an entity is animate.

Existence has been variously defined by sources. In common usage, it is the world we are aware of through our senses, and that persists independently without them. Others define it as everything that is, or simply everything

Foolishness . . .semantic nonsense. Meaningless screechings as of sightless bats darting aloft in frenzied flurries of instinctual feeding flight.

What high concepts exist within the microscopic ken of those amoebic denizen residing within the relative expanse of an ancient dried-up splotch of condor droppings on a flat rock in the Andes, and how insignificant must they have seemed to a gathering of Neanderthals crouched around a fortunate campfire.

What is to come of such fine philosophies of human egotism when individual memories inevitably fade into eternal night?

What indeed?

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WORD FOR TODAY

dissemination
noun
To disseminate, in terms of the field of communication, means to broadcast a message to the public without direct feedback from the audience.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Yul Brynner

Born July 11, 1920
Died Oct. 10, 1985

Russian stage and film actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Mongkut, king of Siam, in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor for the film version; he also played the role more than 4,500 times onstage. He is also remembered as Rameses II in the 1956 Cecil B. DeMille blockbuster The Ten Commandments, General Bounine in Anastasia and Chris Adams in The Magnificent Seven. Brynner was noted for his distinctive voice and for his shaven head, which he maintained as a personal trademark long after adopting it for his initial role in The King and I. He was also a photographer and the author of two books.

ALSO


Leon Spinks

Born July 11, 1953
Age: 58 years old

Former American boxer. He had an overall record of 26 wins, 17 losses and 3 draws as a professional, with 14 knockout wins, and was the former World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association heavyweight champion of the world. While still an amateur, he also became a member of the United States Marine Corps. Spinks defeated 36-year-old Muhammad Ali for the undisputed heavyweight championship in what was regarded as one of the bigger upsets in boxing...

ALSO


E.B. White

 Born July 11, 1899
Died Oct. 01, 1985

Elwyn Brooks White, usually known as E. B. White, was an American writer. He was a long-time contributor to The New Yorker magazine and a co-author of the widely used English language style guide, The Elements of Style, which is commonly known as "Strunk & White." He also wrote famous books for children, including Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little.

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There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy.
--Friedrich Nietzsche

Intelligence Or Imagination . . .

Tucson Weather Today

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Numerology is defined as any study of the purported divine, mystical or other special relationship between a count or measurement and observed or perceived events.

Mathematics has no generally accepted definition. Different schools of thought, particularly in philosophy, have put forth radically different definitions. All are controversial.

So, it seems to me that the recognized discipline of Mathematics can be perhaps better thought of as being Advanced Numerology.

More regarding this later . . . after I've  cogitated about (analyzed) it some more.

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A Useful Distinction

   Copied and Pasted from Pharyngula

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 WORD FOR TODAY

cisgender
 

Kristen Schilt and Laurel Westbrook defined cisgender as a label for "individuals who have a match between the gender they were assigned at birth, their bodies, and their personal identity", complementing "transgender".

 

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

NIKOLA TESLA

Born July 10,1856

Died Jan. 7, 1943

Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, physicist, mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, and futurist. He was an important contributor to the use of commercial electricity, and is best known for developing the modern alternating current (AC) electrical supply system. His many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were based on the theories of electromagnetic technology discovered by Michael Faraday. Tesla's patents and theoretical work also formed the basis of wireless communication and the radio.

ALSO

FRED GWYNNE

 

Born July 10, 1926

Died July 02, 1993

Frederick Hubbard "Fred" Gwynne was an American actor. Gwynne was best known for his roles in the 1960s sitcoms Car 54, Where Are You? and The Munsters, as well as his later roles in Pet Sematary and My Cousin Vinny. He was recognized for his distinctive baritone voice.

ALSO

DAVID BRINKLEY

Born July 10, 1920

Died June 11, 2003

David McClure Brinkley was an American newscaster for NBC and ABC in a career lasting from 1943 to 1997. From 1956 through 1970, he co-anchored NBC's top-rated nightly news program, The Huntley-Brinkley Report, with Chet Huntley and thereafter appeared as co-anchor or commentator on its successor, NBC Nightly News, through the 1970s.

ALSO

RON GLASS

 Born July 10, 1945

Ronald E. "Ron" Glass is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as the witty Detective Ron Harris in the television sitcom Barney Miller (1975-1982), and as the spiritual Shepherd Derrial Book in the short-lived 2002 science fiction series Firefly and its sequel film Serenity.

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The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.
--Albert Einstein

A Bit Of Twaddle . . .

Tucson Weather Today

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America Revealed is a PBS documentary that is simply amazing in its ability to make a viewer visualize all the details that go into feeding America. I first saw it on PBS television, but it is available for viewing online.

Here is the link to The Food Machine.

This is a tremendous series of videos, especially when viewing it full screen. If you pay attention and give it a chance, the scale of the endeavor to feed America will absolutely stun you. After it sinks in, that is.

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Madalyn Murray O'Hair
Most Hated Woman In America

Madalyn Murray O'Hair was an American atheist activist. She was the founder of the organization American Atheists and served as its president from 1963 to 1986.

Murdered by David R. Waters September 29, 1995 in  San Antonio, Texas.

Interview with the son of Madalyn Murray O'Hair -- the woman who ended mandatory Christian prayer in American public schools.

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WORD FOR TODAY

groin
noun
The area between the abdomen and the thigh on either side of the body.
A low wall or sturdy timber barrier built out into the sea from a beach to check erosion and drifting.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Tom Hanks

Born July 9, 1056

Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks is known for his roles in Philadelphia and as the title character in Forrest Gump, roles which won him two consecutive Academy Awards for Best Actor. Hanks is also known for his Oscar nominated roles in Big, Saving Private Ryan and Cast Away. Hanks' other acting roles include Apollo 13, The Green Mile, Charlie Wilson's War and the voice of Woody in Toy Story.

ALSO


Fred Savage

 

Born July 9, 1976

Fredrick Aaron "Fred" Savage is an American actor, director and producer of television and film. He is best known for his role as Kevin Arnold in the American television series The Wonder Years and as the grandson in The Princess Bride. In later years, he has directed and produced numerous episodes of television series, such as Hannah Montana, and Phil of the Future, as well as the primetime series Ugly Betty, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Modern Family, Happy Endings and 2 Broke Girls.

ALSO


Jimmy Smits

Bron July 9, 1955

Jimmy Smits is an American actor. Smits is perhaps best known for his roles as attorney Victor Sifuentes on the 1980s legal drama L.A. Law, as NYPD Detective Bobby Simone on the 1990s police drama NYPD Blue, and as Congressman Matthew Vincente Santos on The West Wing.

ALSO


Kelly McGillis

July 9, 1957

 Kelly Ann McGillis is an American actress. Her films include Top Gun, The Accused, and Witness, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination.

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I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.
--GEORGE H.W. BUSH, news conference, Aug. 27, 1987

A Couple Of Things . . .

Tucson Weather Today

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Toward the end of my recent two week stay out in the desert, the monsoon season began and the Tucson region finally got some much needed rain. The view of the Santa Catalina mountains across the scrub to the North from the pool deck was obscured by welcomed storm clouds.

Here is another shot. None of the high peaks can be seen because of the low-hanging clouds.

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Think about this YouTube video wherein a Cop Tells Children Not to Buy Lemonade!

10 cent lemonade stand shutdown by 10 members of the Capitol Police in Washington D.C.

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WORD FOR TODAY

beautiful
adjective
Pleasing the senses or mind aesthetically.
Of a very high standard; excellent.
Physically attractive
Synonyms:
admirable, alluring, angelic, appealing, beauteous, bewitching, charming, classy, comely, cute, dazzling, delicate, delightful, divine, elegant, enticing, excellent, exquisite, fair, fascinating, fine, foxy, good-looking, gorgeous, graceful, grand, handsome, ideal, lovely, magnificent, marvelous, nice, pleasing, pretty, pulchritudinous, radiant, ravishing, refined, resplendent, shapely, sightly, splendid, statuesque, stunning, sublime, superb, symmetrical, taking, well-formed, wonderful.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Marty Feldman

Born July 8, 1934
Died Dec. 2 1982

Martin Alan "Marty" Feldman was an English comedy writer, comedian and actor. He starred in several British television comedy shows, including At Last the 1948 Show and Marty, the latter of which won two BAFTA awards. He was the first Saturn Award winner for Best Supporting Actor for his role as I-gor in Young Frankenstein.

ALSO


John D. Rockefeller

Born July 8, 1839
Died May 23, 1937

John Davison Rockefeller was an American industrialist and notable philanthropist. In 1870, he founded the Standard Oil Company and aggressively ran it until he officially retired in 1897. As kerosene and gasoline grew in importance, Rockefeller's wealth soared, and he became the world's richest man and first American worth more than a billion dollars. Adjusting for inflation, he is often regarded as the richest person in history.

ALSO


Nelson Rockefeller

Born July 08, 1908
Died Jan. 26, 1979

Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller, grandson of John D. Rockefeller, was an American businessman, philanthropist, public servant, and politician. He served as the 41st Vice President of the United States (1974-1977), serving under President Gerald Ford, and was the 49th Governor of New York (1959-1973). It is reported that Rockefeller died during the act of sexual intercourse with his mistress.

See . . .

ALSO


Kevin Bacon

  Born July 8, 1958

Kevin Norwood Bacon is an American film and theater actor whose notable roles include Animal House, Diner, Footloose, Flatliners, Wild Things, A Few Good Men, JFK, Apollo 13, Hollow Man, Mystic River, The Woodsman, Friday the 13th, Tremors, Death Sentence, Frost/Nixon, and X-Men: First Class.

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The pen is mightier than the sword, and considerably easier to write with.
--Marty Feldman