Even Old Reruns Are Better . . .

Tucson Weather Today

_____

Well, I watched most of the ceremonial antics and listened to all of the less than inspiring speeches intoned at the GOP convention, thanks to the nearly commercial-free programming of PBS.

Nothing has changed within the helter-skelter innards of my so-called mind. I still don't want to vote for either candidate of the two major parties.

Bit I probably will,  of course:

Unless I kick the bucket first.

_____

Mote text goes here . . . later.

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WORD FOR TODAY


pellucid [puh-loo-sid]
adjective
- allowing the maximum passage of light, as glass; translucent.
- clear or limpid: pellucid waters.
- clear in meaning, expression, or style:

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Buddy Hackett

Born Aug 31, 1924
Died June 30, 2003

Buddy Hackett (born Leonard Hacker) was an American comedian and actor. Hackett became known to a wider audience when he appeared on television in the 1950s and 1960s as a frequent guest on such talk shows as those of Jack Paar and Arthur Godfrey, telling brash, often off-color jokes, and mugging at the camera. Hackett was also a guest on Jack Paar's last Tonight show in 1962. He was on the Johnny Carson show as a frequent guest. According to Trivial Pursuit, Hackett has the most appearances of any guest in the history of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. A collection of these appearances are available on YouTube.

 Arthur Godfrey

Born Aug 31, 1903
Died Mar 17, 1983

Arthur Morton Godfrey was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname, The Old Redhead. No television personality of the 1950s enjoyed more clout or fame than Godfrey until a famous on-the-air incident undermined his folksy image and triggered a gradual decline; the then-ubiquitous Godfrey helmed two CBS-TV weekly series and a daily 90-minute television mid-morning show through most of the decade, but by the early 1960s found himself reduced to hosting an occasional TV special.

William Saroyan


Born Aug 31, 1908
Died May 18, 1981

William Saroyan was an American dramatist and author. The setting of many of his stories and plays is the center of Armenian American life in California in his native Fresno.

Saroyan published essays and memoirs, in which he depicted the people he had met on travels in the Soviet Union and Europe, such as the playwright George Bernard Shaw, the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, and Charlie Chaplin. In 1952, Saroyan published The Bicycle Rider in Beverly Hills, the first of several volumes of memoirs.

Saroyan is probably best remembered for his play The Time of Your Life (1939), set in a waterfront saloon in San Francisco. It won a Pulitzer Prize, which Saroyan refused on the grounds that commerce should not judge the arts; he did accept the New York Drama Critics' Circle award. The play was adapted into a 1948 film starring James Cagney.

__________

In order to write all a man needs is paper and a pencil...
--William Saroyan

Foggy Brained Again Today

Tucson Weather Today

_____

Well I am back home after another two-day stint of dog-sitting out in the desert.

_____

WORD FOR TODAY

divisive
adjective
Tending to cause disagreement or hostility between people.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley


Born Aug 30, 1797
Died Feb 01, 1851.

Mary Shelley was an English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus (1818). She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Shirley Booth

 

Born Aug 30, 1898
Died Oct 16, 1992.

Shirley Booth was an American actress. Primarily a theatre actress, Booth's Broadway career began in 1925. Her most significant success was as Lola Delaney, in the drama Come Back, Little Sheba, for which she received a Tony Award in 1950. She made her film debut, reprising her role in the 1952 film version, and won both the Academy Award for Best Actress and Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance. Despite her successful entry into films, she preferred stage acting, and made only four more films.

From 1961 until 1966, she played the title role in the sitcom Hazel, for which she won two Emmy Awards, and was acclaimed for her performance in the 1966 television production of The Glass Menagerie. She retired in 1974.

Fred MacMurray


Born Aug 30, 1908
Died Nov 5, 1991.

Frederick Martin "Fred" MacMurray was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 movies and a successful television series during a career that spanned nearly a half-century, from 1930 to the 1970s. MacMurray is well known for his role in the 1944 film noir Double Indemnity directed by Billy Wilder, which he starred in with Barbara Stanwyck. Later in his career, he became better known worldwide as the paternal Steve Douglas, the widowed patriarch on My Three Sons, which ran on ABC from 1960–1965 and then on CBS from 1965–1972.

__________

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
--Thomas Jefferson

And Then . . . ?

Tucson Weather Today

_____

To write a book one must be convinced that its author knows something about the basic subject of that book. Or at least believe he knows. (to be continued)

_____

Playboy Interview with Richard Dawkins -- A candid conversation with the controversial atheist about the simple beauty of evolution, the improbability of God, and why the pope should be arrested.

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WORD FOR TODAY

bereft
Adjective
Deprived of or lacking something.
Lonely and abandoned, esp. through someone's death or departure.

 _____



BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Sarah Chalke


Born Aug 27, 1976
Age: 36 years old.

Sarah Chalke is a Canadian-American actress known for portraying Dr. Elliot Reid on the NBC/ABC comedy Scrubs, "Second Becky" Conner Healy on Roseanne, and Stella Zinman in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. She most recently had a recurring guest-starring role in season three of ABC's sitcom Cougar Town.

Lyndon B. Johnson


Born Aug 27, 1908
Died Jan 22, 1973.

Lyndon Baines Johnson, often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States (1963-1969), a position he assumed after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States (1961-1963). He is one of only four people who served in all four elected federal offices of the United States: Representative, Senator, Vice President, and President. Johnson, a Texas Democrat, served as a United States Representative from 1937-1949 and as a Senator from 1949-1961, including six years as United States Senate Majority Leader, two as Senate Minority Leader and two as Senate Majority Whip. After campaigning unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in 1960, Johnson was asked by John F. Kennedy to be his running mate for the 1960 presidential election.

Johnson succeeded to the presidency following the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, completed Kennedy's term and was elected President in his own right, winning by a large margin in the 1964 election.

Tuesday Weld


Born Aug 27, 1943
Age: 69 years old.

Tuesday Weld is an American actress. Weld began her acting career as a child, and progressed to more mature roles during the late 1950s. She won a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Female Newcomer in 1960. Over the following decade she established a career playing dramatic roles in films. She was cast as Thalia Menninger in the CBS television series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. She appeared with Steve McQueen in The Cincinnati Kid. In 1961, when Weld was 18, she had an off-screen romance with Elvis Presley, her costar in Wild in the Country.

Martha Raye


Born Aug 27, 1916
Died Oct 19, 1994.

Martha Raye was an American comic actress and standards singer who performed in movies, and later on television. She was honored in 1969 with an Academy Award as the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award recipient for her volunteer efforts and services to the troops. She appeared with many of the leading comics of her day, including Joe E. Brown, Bob Hope, W. C. Fields, Abbott and Costello, Charlie Chaplin, and Jimmy Durante. She joined the USO soon after the US entered World War II. Martha Raye was known for the size of her mouth, which appeared large in proportion to the rest of her face, thus earning her the nickname The Big Mouth.

__________

To me in the desert tomorrow:

Here is the link to the video
 about A+ -- with PZ, et al.

And So On . . .

Tucson Weather Today

_____

Yes . . . I am watching the Sunday morning News (political garbage) shows. And, yes I know that makes me (as I was recently characterized) consistent in my inconsistency.

Oh well . . .

Neil Armstrong

First man on moon Neil Armstrong dead at 82

  

Neil Alden Armstrong was an American NASA astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor, United States Naval Aviator, and the first person to set foot upon the Moon.

 

Happiness Is . . . ?

Tucson Weather Today

 

_____

I was going to write about happiness. But then discovered that I know absolutely nothing about it.

_____

WORD FOR TODAY


beatitude
 noun
1. supreme blessedness or happiness
2. an honorific title of the Eastern Christian Church, applied to those of patriarchal rank

New Testament -- any of eight distinctive sayings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3--11) in which he declares that the poor, the meek, those that mourn, the merciful, the peacemakers, the pure of heart, those that thirst for justice, and those that are persecuted will, in various ways, receive the blessings of heaven

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Sean Connery


Born Aug 25, 1930
Age: 81 years old.

Sir Thomas Sean Connery is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards (one of them being a BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award) and three Golden Globes (including the Cecil B. DeMille Award and a Henrietta Award).

Connery is best known for portraying the character James Bond, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983. In 1988, Connery won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Untouchables. His film career also includes such films as Marnie, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Hunt for Red October, Highlander, Murder on the Orient Express, Dragonheart, and The Rock. He was knighted in July 2000. Connery has been polled as "The Greatest Living Scot" and "Scotland's Greatest Living National Treasure". In 1989, he was proclaimed "Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine and in 1999, at age 69, he was voted "Sexiest Man of the Century".

Van Johnson


Born Aug. 25, 1916
Died Dec. 12, 2008

Van Johnson was an American film and television actor and dancer who was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios during and after World War II. Johnson was the embodiment of the "boy-next-door" wholesomeness that made him a popular Hollywood star in the '40s and '50s," playing "the red-haired, freckle-faced soldier, sailor or bomber pilot who used to live down the street" in MGM movies during the war years with such films as 30 Seconds over Tokyo, A Guy Named Joe and The Caine Mutiny. Johnson made occasional World War II movies through the end of the 1960s, and he played a military officer in one of his final feature films, in 1992. At the time of his death in December 2008, he was one of the last surviving matinee idols of Hollywood's "golden age."

Billy Ray Cyrus


Born Aug 25, 1961
Age: 50 years old.

William "Billy" Ray Cyrus is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor and philanthropist, who has achieved great success worldwide. Having released twelve studio albums and forty-four singles since 1992, he is best known for his Number One single "Achy Breaky Heart", which became the first single ever to achieve triple Platinum status in Australia. It was also the best-selling single in the same country in 1992.

Rachael Ray


Born Aug 25, 1968
Age: 43 years old.

   
Rachael Domenica Ray is an American television personality, businesswoman, celebrity chef and author. She hosts the syndicated talk and lifestyle program Rachael Ray on ABC and three Food Network series, 30 Minute Meals, Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels and $40 a Day. Ray wrote cookbooks based on the 30 Minute Meals concept, and launched a magazine, Every Day with Rachael Ray, in 2006. Ray's television shows have won two Daytime Emmy Awards.

__________

The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself.
--Benjamin Franklin

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
--Thomas Jefferson

Stuff And Nonsense . . .

Tucson Weather Today

_____

Moira Johnston Goes Topless in N.Y.C. to Raise Awareness of the Right to a Bare Chest is the title of an article at The Daily Beast.

I didn't realize that in New York City, it is legal for a female to appear bare chested anywhere a a male can do so. But, it is. It’s been legal for a woman to go topless in public since the 1992 case of People v. Ramona Santorelli and Mary Lou Schloss.

 In 2005, Jill Coccaro was arrested for hanging loose on Delancey Street in New York City, but sued the city and received a $29,000 settlement.

Moira Johnston

You can view a video of Moira Johnston topless, explaining that she is being video-recorded out in public, topless, and it is legal.

_____

It's hard to believe how downright stupid some people seem to be, especially elected officials, and how foolish they sound when speaking aloud, even on radio or television programs.

For example:

Tennessee State Senator Stacey Campfield claims that it is nearly impossible for someone to contract AIDS through heterosexual contact.

“Most people realize that AIDS came from the homosexual community,” he told Michelangelo Signorile, who hosts a radio program on SiriusXM OutQ. “It was one guy screwing a monkey, if I recall correctly, and then having sex with men. It was an airline pilot, if I recall.”

source

And then, Tennessee Senator Stacey Campfield stands by his previous radio comments...

View his interview HERE.

_____

WORD FOR TODAY

equivocate
verb    
Use ambiguous language so as to conceal the truth or avoid committing oneself.

_____

BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Durward Kirby


Born Aug. 24, 1911
Died Mar. 15, 2000

Homer Durward Kirby, known professionally as Durward Kirby (sometimes misspelled Durwood Kirby), was an American television host and announcer. He is best remembered for The Garry Moore Show in the 1950s, and Candid Camera, where he appeared with Allen Funt from 1961 through 1966.

Steve Guttenberg
 

Born Aug 24, 1958
Age: 53 years old.

Steven Robert Guttenberg is an American actor and comedian. He became well known during the 1980s after a series of starring roles in major Hollywood films, including Cocoon, Three Men and a Baby, Police Academy, and Short Circuit.

Marlee Matlin


Born Aug 24, 1965
Age: 46 years old.

Marlee Beth Matlin is a deaf American actress. She is the youngest actress, and the only deaf performer, to win the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, which she won for Children of a Lesser God. Her work in film and television has resulted in a Golden Globe award, with two additional nominations, and four Emmy nominations. Deaf since she was 18 months old, she is also a prominent member of the National Association of the Deaf.

Matlin appeared during the 20th season of the TV series, Sesame Street, with Billy Joel. Matlin later had recurring roles in The West Wing, and Blue's Clues. Other television appearances include Seinfeld ("The Lip Reader"), The Outer Limits ("The Message"), ER, Desperate Housewives, CSI: NY and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She was nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards for her guest appearances in Seinfeld, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and The Practice.

__________

“Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.”
--Robert A. Heinlein

And Then I Read IN UMBRIA

Tucson Weather Today

_____

Last week I received in the mail from the United States District Court a Summons For Jury Service. After reading the complete two pages of information and instructions, I filled out the enclosed Juror Qualification Questionnaire and included a request to be excused. The information page stated that such a request can be made by a potential juror aged 70 or over, which, of course, I am. I mailed the form in the postage-paid self-addressed envelope supplied.

Since the information sheet told me that being excused (even for those over 70) is not automatic and I should check my status, I today went to the U.S. Federal Court website and clicked the Juror Reporting Status, entered my juror number and zip code as instructed, and received the following message:

"You have been excused from jury duty for your scheduled term of service and do not need to continue checking this message."

Which suits me just fine.

_____

Yesterday, attempting to 'beat the heat' and despite the threatening dark clouds amassed above, I began my daily walk at 7:45 a.m. and did not dally long on the gossiper bench outside Fry's Supermarket, which is the halfway point of the two mile walk. Even so, I  did not get back home until about five minutes till nine. At nine-fifteen the sky  opened up and a deluge of rain fell outside my window.

A bit of good luck indeed.

_____

Although I realized long ago that even though I occasionally write some broken-line statements of emotional upheaval, I am not, and never have been, a poet. In fact, I seldom appreciate, understand, or enjoy reading the intentionally obscure poems so highly acclaimed by those modern scholars who are supposedly 'in the know'.

There are a few poems, though, that I stumble across and immediately recognize as being, in my opinion, an extremely fine poem.

Such as:

In Umbria

Once upon a time I was sitting outside the cafe

watching twilight in Umbria when a girl came

out of the bakery with the bread her mother wanted.

She did not know what to do. Already bewildered

by being thirteen and just that summer a woman,

she now had to walk past the American.

But she did fine. Went by and around the corner

with style, not noticing me. Almost perfect.

At the last instant could not resist darting a look

down at her new breasts. Often I go back

to that dip of her head when people talk

about this one or that one of the great beauties.

The poem, In Umbria, was written by Jack Gilbert

Read the above and other poems written by Jack Gilbert HERE.

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WORD FOR TODAY

phlogiston [floh-JIS-ton]
noun
A nonexistent chemical that, prior to the discovery of oxygen, was thought to be released during combustion.

Wikipedia states -- The phlogiston theory, first stated in 1667 by Johann Joachim Becher, is an obsolete scientific theory that postulated the existence of a fire-like element called "phlogiston", which was contained within combustible bodies and released during combustion. The theory was an attempt to explain processes of burning such as combustion and the rusting of metals, which are now collectively known as oxidation.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Barbara Eden


Born Aug 23, 1934
Age: 77 years old.

Barbara Eden is an American film and television actress and singer who is best known for starring as the title role in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.

She made featured appearances on television shows such as The Johnny Carson Show, The West Point Story, Highway Patrol, Private Secretary, I Love Lucy, The Millionaire, Target: The Corruptors!, Crossroads, Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, December Bride, Bachelor Father, Father Knows Best, Adventures in Paradise, The Andy Griffith Show, Cain's Hundred, Saints and Sinners, The Virginian, Slattery's People, The Rogues, and the series finale of Route 66 playing the role of Margo.

Gene Kelly

Born Aug 23, 1912
Died: Feb 2, 1996.

Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer. Kelly was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks and the likable characters that he played on screen. Although he is known today for his performances in Singin' in the Rain and An American in Paris, he was a dominant force in Hollywood musical films from the mid 1940s until this art form fell out of fashion in the late 1950s.

Shelley Long


Born Aug 23, 1949
Age: 62 years old.

Shelley Lee Long is an American actress best known for her role as Diane Chambers on the sitcom Cheers, for which she won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress and two Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress. She has also starred in several motion pictures throughout her career like Night Shift (1982), her Golden Globe nominated role in Irreconcilable Differences (1984), The Money Pit (1986), Outrageous Fortune (1987), Hello Again (1987), Troop Beverly Hills (1989), The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), and Dr. T & the Women (2000). Most recently she has had a recurring role as DeDe Pritchett on the ABC comedy series Modern Family.

 

 Vera Miles


Born Aug 23, 1930
Age: 81 years old.

Vera Miles is an American actress who worked closely with Alfred Hitchcock, notably in Psycho, playing the sister of the Janet Leigh character, which she reprised in Psycho II. Her other films included The Wrong Man, The Searchers, Follow Me Boys! and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.


__________

“Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.”
--Terry Pratchett, Jingo

Truth Or Dare Ain't A Kid's Game

Tucson Weather Today

_____

I am still trying to straighten out my thoughts on the subject of truth and honesty. Clarifying one's thoughts about telling the truth is not easy.

If you are a candidate for public office (such as U.S. Senator) you damn well better not even hint at the truth about how you feel toward some touchy subject (such as abortion) if you expect to be elected. In the case that, if you believe that abortion is wrong (a sin) in any and all cases, even if pregnancy arises from rape, then you had better keep your true feelings to yourself. In other words, lie about it.

Then you might become an elected official, with power over the people.

But as I stated above, I am trying to sort out my own thoughts and feelings about the subject, not of abortion, but on telling the truth or lying.

Maybe I will soon come to a definite conclusion. If so, I will reveal it to my blog readers.

_____

WORD FOR TODAY

 cis  [sis]
   
Short for "cisgender" (opposite of "transgender"), used to describe someone whose gender identity matches their anatomical gender at birth.

Cisgender is explained fully by Wikipedia HERE

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Cindy Williams


Born Aug 22, 1947
Age: 64 years old.

Cynthia Jane "Cindy" Williams is an American actress best known for starring in the television situation-comedy series Laverne & Shirley, in the role of "Shirley Feeney", and for her role as Laurie Henderson in the classic film American Graffiti.

Ray Bradbury


Born Aug 22, 1920
Died June 6, 2012

Ray Douglas Bradbury was an American fantasy, science fiction, horror and mystery fiction writer. Best known for his dystopian novel titled Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and for the science fiction and horror stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles (1950) and The Illustrated Man (1951), Bradbury was one of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers. Many of Bradbury's works have been adapted into television shows or films.

Valerie Harper


Born Aug 22, 1939
Age: 72 years old.

Valerie Harper is an American actress, known for her role as Rhoda Morgenstern on the 1970s television show The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and for her starring roles on the sitcoms Rhoda (a spin-off of The Mary Tyler Moore Show) and Valerie.

__________

I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.
--Stephen Hawking

A Little Humor . . .

Tucson Weather Today

_____

Have you ever heard of a young woman known as Cristina Rad? If not (or even if you have heard of her but have somehow forgotten her) then you should let her introduce/reintroduce herself to you by letting you read her blog and/or by viewing her videos HERE.

If you would rather not, then at least grab onto this opportunity to sample a taste of her delicious humor (with its underlying tragicism) by viewing just this one Youtube video HERE.

You won't be disappointed . . .

_____

I just couldn't resist copying the following and pasting it here:

“You know the world is going crazy when
the best rapper is a white guy,
the best golfer is a black guy,
the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese,
the Swiss hold the America's Cup,
France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance,
Germany doesn't want to go to war,
and the three most powerful men in America are named
"Bush", "Dick", and "Colin."
Need I say more?”

--Chris Rock


And this one, too . . .


“Religion has convinced people that there's an invisible man ... living in the sky. Who watches everything you do every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten specific things he doesn't want you to do. And if you do any of these things, he will send you to a special place, of burning and fire and smoke and torture and anguish for you to live forever, and suffer, and suffer, and burn, and scream, until the end of time. But he loves you. He loves you. He loves you and he needs money.”

--George Carlin

_____

WORD FOR TODAY

prognosis [prahg-NO-suhs]
- a forecast or prognostication.
- Literally fore-knowing, foreseeing.
- a prognosis is a medical term for predicting the likely outcome of an illness, often involving a detailed description.

_____

BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Kenny Rogers


Born Aug 21, 1938
Age: 73 years old.

Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is a singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur. Though he has been most successful with country audiences, he has charted more than 120 hit singles across various music genres and topping the country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks in the United States alone.

 Jack Weston


Born Aug 21, 1924
Died May 3, 1996.

Jack Weston was an American film, stage, and television actor. Weston usually played comic roles in films such as Cactus Flower and Please Don't Eat the Daisies, but also occasionally essayed heavier parts, such as the scheming crook and stalker who, along with Alan Arkin and Richard Crenna, attempts to terrorize and rob a blind Audrey Hepburn in the 1967 film Wait Until Dark. Weston had countless character roles in major films such as The Cincinnati Kid and The Thomas Crown Affair.

Kim Cattral

Born Aug 21, 1956

Age: 55 years old.

Kim Victoria Cattrall is an English-Canadian actress. She is known for her role as Samantha Jones in the HBO comedy/romance series Sex and the City and for her leading roles in the 1980s films Police Academy, Big Trouble in Little China, Mannequin, and Porky's. For her role as Samantha Jones, she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2002 and received four nominations for the role. Her success in Sex and the City also led her to receive two Screen Actors Guild Awards out of seven nominations (including two for Outstanding Female Actress in a Comedy Series) and five Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

Count Basie


Born Aug 21, 1904
Died Apr 26, 1984.

   
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. His mother first taught him piano and he started performing in his teens. Dropping out of school, he learned to operate lights for vaudeville and improvised to accompany silent films at a local theater in his town of Red Bank, New Jersey. By 16, he increasingly played jazz piano at parties, resorts and other venues. In 1924, he went to Harlem, where his performing career expanded; he toured with groups to the major jazz cities of Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City. In 1929 he joined Bennie Moten's band in Kansas City, and played with them until Moten's death in 1935.


__________

Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious.
--Peter Ustinov

Wi-Fi Parking Meter Lawsuit, Etc.

Tucson Weather Today

_____

Resident files $1.7B claim with City Hall says the Santa Monica Daily Press. It seems that Santa Monica has installed some new Hi-Tek parking meters that, among other  things, uses Wi-Fi to control the meters, such as notifying a controller whenever a car leaves its parking space and then the controller zeroes out the meter. Something like that.

So, reports the Santa Monica Daily Press: Denise Barton asserts that radiation from the wireless signals emanating from the meters, which is similar to Wi-Fi Internet or cellular waves, is causing ringing in her ears, ear infections and tightness on the back, left side of her neck.

Barton is suing for $1.7 billion, plus another $1.7 million every month thereafter.

Good Gravy!

Only on Planet Earth.

_____

A couple of months ago I became confused when I ran across an aritcle (written by a Brit) wherein he several times added an 's' to the word 'math' -- I queried a group of people I respect and was told that the word is spelled m-a-t-h in the U.S. and m-a-t-h-s in England. I accepted that and let it go. But I now see this controversy is raging elsewhere -- in Discover magazine, and by some notables.

One of those notables is Sean Carroll, who is a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Physics at the California Institute of Technology. He is the author of a graduate-level textbook, Spacetime and Geometry: An Introduction to General Relativity, as well as a set of Teaching Company lectures on dark matter and dark energy. His latest book, From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time, explores the relationship between entropy, cosmology, and the arrow of time.

So which is correct, Math or Maths?

_____

WORD FOR TODAY


torque  [tork]
noun

A twisting force that tends to cause rotation.

Torque is the tendency of a force to rotate an object about an axis, fulcrum, or pivot. Just as a force is a push or a pull, a torque can be thought of as a twist to an object. Mathematically, torque is defined as the product of force and the lever-arm distance, which tends to produce rotation. Loosely speaking, torque is a measure of the turning force on an object such as a bolt or a flywheel. For example, pushing or pulling the handle of a wrench connected to a nut or bolt produces a torque (turning force) that loosens or tightens the nut or bolt.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

   
Al Roker

Born Aug 20, 1954

Age: 57 years old.

Albert Lincoln "Al" Roker, Jr. is an American television weatherman as well as an actor and book author. He is best known as being the weather anchor on NBC's Today. On Monday, July 20, 2009, he began co-hosting his new morning show, Wake Up with Al, on The Weather Channel, which airs weekdays from 6am to 7am ET, one hour earlier than Today. He holds an expired American Meteorological Society Television Seal, #238. Writing with Dick Lochte, Roker began a series of murder mysteries in 2009 that feature Billy Blessing, a celebrity chef turned amateur detective. The second book in the series, The Midnight Show Murders (2010), was nominated for a 2011 Nero Award.

Jacqueline Susann


Born Aug 20, 1921
Died Sept 21, 1974

Jacqueline Susann was an American author known for her best-selling novels. Her most notable work was Valley of the Dolls, a book that broke sales records and spawned an Oscar-nominated 1967 film and a short-lived TV series.

Ron Paul


Born Aug 20, 1935
Age: 76 years old.

Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author, and politician who has been serving as the U.S. Representative for Texas's 14th congressional district, which includes Galveston, since 1997. He is a three-time candidate for President of the United States, as a Libertarian in 1988 and as a Republican in 2008 and currently 2012. He is a member of the Republican Party. He holds libertarian views and is a critic of American foreign, domestic, and monetary policies, including the military–industrial complex, the War on Drugs, and the Federal Reserve.

H.P. Lovecraft


Born Aug. 20, 1890
Died Mar. 15, 1937

Howard Phillips Lovecraft, known as H. P. Lovecraft, was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction.

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The world is indeed comic, but the joke is on mankind.

--H. P. Lovecraft

Politics, TV Networks, Etc.

Tucson Weather Today

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According to Saturday's Washington Post online the Sunday Morning TV News shows will feature the following:

NBC’s Meet the Press: Gov. Martin O’Malley (D-Md.); Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-Va.); Chuck Todd, NBC; Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed; Ted Cruz, Republican U.S. Senate nominee; E.J. Dionne, The Washington Post and Brookings Institution; Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal.

CBS’s Face the Nation: Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Senate majority whip; Rudy Giuliani, former New York mayor; Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform; Neera Tanden, president of Center for American Progress.

ABC’s This Week: Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.); Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Mass.); Neil Barofsky, former special inspector general of the Troubled Assets Relief Program; Austan Goolsbee, former chairman of the Obama Council of Economic Advisers; Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform; Kimberley Strassel, Wall Street Journal; Kevin Madden, Romney senior adviser; Stephanie Cutter, Obama deputy campaign manager.

I am growing more and more disappointed with these shows. That's probably because I am now convinced that the majority of guests interviewed never tell the truth but only repeat variations on their Party's policy. Even the panelists and the roundtable participants are so steeped in party priorities that the loyal viewer almost always knows what each of them is going to say.

And as for the politicians being probed, well, I am a firm believer that the term 'honest politician' is an obvious oxymoron. And an elected official is first and foremost a 'politician.'

Most of the reporters and other media-based mini-celebrities in attendance to discuss the latest news events who are supposed to be unbiased are actually as closed-minded as the politicians. Except, of course for George Will, who is quite obviously a conservative but is always able to focus on and explain his view, forcibly make a valid point, whenever, that is, he is not interrupted by some pushy, loud-mouthed know-nothing party hack.


Oh Good Gravy! Here I go again, doing what I keep telling myself not to do: not to write about politics or religion, the two subjects one can never change another's mind about, no matter how right I am or how wrong my listener might be.

Will I never learn?

Well, you can't go wrong when reading George Will's column. His latest at The Washington Post is titled Why doom has not materialized and as always, it makes the reader think, and to question the sanity of the human animal.

George Will's Column

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WORD FOR TODAY


Noodling
noun

Noodling is fishing for catfish using only bare hands, practiced primarily in the southern United States. The noodler places his hand inside a discovered catfish hole. Many other names, such as catfisting, grabbling, graveling, hogging, dogging, gurgling, tickling and stumping, are used in different regions for the same activity.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Bill Clinton


Born Aug 19, 1946
Age: 65 years old.

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III) is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation. Clinton has been described as a New Democrat. Many of his policies have been attributed to a centrist Third Way philosophy of governance.

Willie Shoemaker

Born Aug. 19, 1931

Died Oct. 12, 2003

William Lee "Willie" Shoemaker was an American jockey. For 29 years he held the world record of number of professional jockey victories.

   Gene Roddenberry


Born Aug. 19, 1921
Died Oct. 24, 1991

Eugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry was an American television screenwriter, producer and futurist, best known for creating the American science fiction series Star Trek. Born in El Paso, Texas, Roddenberry grew up in Los Angeles, California where his father worked as a police officer. Roddenberry flew 89 combat missions in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, and worked as a commercial pilot after the war. He later followed in his father's footsteps, joining the Los Angeles Police Department to provide for his family, but began focusing on writing scripts for television.

   
Matthew Perry


Born Aug 19, 1969
Age: 42 years old.

Matthew Langford Perry is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. He is well known for his Emmy-nominated role as Chandler Bing on the popular, long-running NBC television sitcom Friends. While known primarily for his comic roles, Perry has carved out a career in drama as well, particularly in his portrayal of Associate White House Counsel Joe Quincy in Aaron Sorkin's The West Wing.

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"I only make movies to finance my fishing."
Lee Marvin

Memory And Intelligence

Tucson Weather Today

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From about the second grade in elementary school I began to recognize that I possessed an excellent memory, not a 'photographic' memory nor an eidetic memory but simply a higher than average memory -- an extremely adequate memory.

Damn . . . I can't remember what I was going to write . . . something about a superior memory being a prerequisite to exhibiting superior intelligence and  how even a good memory can fade with age.

Oh well . . .

Later.

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WORD FOR TODAY

carborundum

A trademark used for an abrasive of silicon carbide crystals.

Any of various abrasive materials, esp one consisting of silicon carbide.

Carborundum Stone

And . . .

Silicon carbide (SiC), also known as carborundum, is a compound of silicon and carbon with chemical formula SiC. It occurs in nature as the extremely rare mineral moissanite. Silicon carbide powder has been mass-produced since 1893 for use as an abrasive. Grains of silicon carbide can be bonded together by sintering to form very hard ceramics which are widely used in applications requiring high endurance, such as car brakes, car clutches and ceramic plates in bulletproof vests.

Electronic applications of silicon carbide as light emitting diodes (LEDs) and detectors in early radios were first demonstrated around 1907, and today SiC is widely used in high-temperature/high-voltage semiconductor electronics. Large single crystals of silicon carbide can be grown by the Lely method; they can be cut into gems known as synthetic moissanite. Silicon carbide with high surface area can be produced from SiO2 contained in plant material.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Malcolm Jamal Warner


Born Aug 18, 1970
Age: 41 years old.

Malcolm-Jamal Warner is an American television actor, television director, and musician. He is best known for his role as Theo Huxtable on the long-running NBC sitcom The Cosby Show. Additionally, he appeared as Malcolm McGee on the UPN sitcom Malcolm & Eddie. He is currently starring as Dr. Alex Reed on the new BET sitcom Reed Between the Lines.

   
Robert Redford

Born Aug 18, 1936
Age: 75 years old.

Charles Robert Redford, Jr., better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime Achievement in 2002. In 2010 he was awarded French Knighthood in the Legion d'Honneur. At the height of his fame in the 1970s and 1980s, he was often described as one of the world's most attractive men and remains one of the most popular movie stars.

Patrick Swayze

Born Aug. 18, 1952

Died Sep 14, 2009

Patrick Wayne Swayze was an American actor, dancer and singer-songwriter. He was best known for his tough-guy roles, as romantic leading men in the hit films Dirty Dancing, Road House, Ghost, and as Orry Main in the North and South television miniseries. He was named by People magazine as its "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1991. His film and TV career spanned 30 years.

Meriwether Lewis


Born Aug. 18, 1774
Died Oct 11., 1809

Meriwether Lewis was an American explorer, soldier, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition also known as the Corps of Discovery, with William Clark. Their mission was to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase, establish trade and sovereignty over the natives near the Missouri River, and claim the Pacific Northwest and Oregon territory for the United States before European nations. They also collected scientific data, and information on indigenous nations. President Thomas Jefferson appointed him Governor of Upper Louisiana in 1806.


 On this date in 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified.


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A funny 7-second video

The Older One Gets . . .

Tucson Weather Today

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Last night I was reading an essay on -- Oh Shoot! I forgot what it was about -- Anyway, I was reading online when I heard the TV announce that an episode of The Beverly Hillbillies was about to start. Naturally I couldn't miss that, so I went into the living room and turned up the volume. The show was a really old one, in black and white, and seemingly rerun from the series's first year.

Jethro was slated to gradgeeate 6th grade from the exclusive Potts School at three o'clock and the administration set it up so the Clampetts would be late and thereby not embarrass the audience with their looks and ignorant actions. But Granny was wise to them and took Elly Mae and her pet chimp to the graduation exercises. They arranged for the chimp to stand in for Jethro and accept his diploma. All turned out for the best.

Sure was funny.

After it was over, I found out that another oldie was coming up: Green Acres. I didn't watch it though. Too sleepy. So I went to bed and read another chapter from my current Kindle book.


I don't understand why those old, old reruns appeal to me so strongly.

Must be getting old myself . . . and possibly a bit senile.

Or something like that.

I believe it was old Sophocles who said . . .
"A man growing old becomes a child again."

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Last night I finally took down the envelope which is my Early Voting ballot for the Republican Primary election that has been resting unopened on top of my flatbed scanner since arriving a couple weeks ago. I marked the ballot on each of the candidates who are running unopposed, then I Googled the various candidates -- the one for U.S. Representative, for the U.S. Senate, for County Sheriff, and County Superintendent of Schools. Based on the information within several websites, I made my final choices and marked my ballot.

Now I have Voted Early and will mail out the sealed ballot later this morning.

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WORD FOR TODAY


paramour
noun  
A lover, esp. the illicit partner of a married person.
Synonyms:
lover - mistress - swain - inamorata - sweetheart

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Robert De Niro


Born Aug 17, 1943
Age: 68 years old.

Robert De Niro is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973. In 1974, he played the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II, a role that won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

His critically acclaimed, longtime collaborations with Martin Scorsese began with 1973's Mean Streets, and earned De Niro an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Jake LaMotta in the 1980 film Raging Bull. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for his roles in Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976) and Cape Fear (1991). In addition, he received nominations for his acting in Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter (1978) and Penny Marshall's Awakenings (1990). Also in 1990, his portrayal as Jimmy Conway in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas earned him a BAFTA nomination.

Sean Penn


Born Aug 17, 1960
Age: 51 years old.

Sean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his left-wing political and social activism (including humanitarian work). He is a two-time Academy Award winner for his roles in Mystic River (2003) and Milk (2008), as well as the recipient of a Golden Globe Award for the former and a Screen Actors Guild Award for the latter.

Davy Crockett

Born Aug. 17, 1786

Died March 6, 1836

David "Davy" Crockett was a 19th century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician. He is commonly referred to in popular culture by the epithet, "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives, served in the Texas Revolution, and died at the Battle of the Alamo.

   
Mae West


Born Aug. 17, 1892
Died Nov. 22, 1980

Mary Jane West, known as Mae West, was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades. Known for her bawdy double entendres, West made a name for herself in vaudeville and on the stage in New York before moving to Hollywood to become a comedienne, actress and writer in the motion picture industry. In consideration of her contributions to American cinema, the American Film Institute named West 15th among the greatest female stars of all time.


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I'm growing old, I delight in the past.
--Henri Matisse