Friday, November 30, 2012

Last Day Of The Month

 
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text goes here . . .

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WORD FOR TODAY

criterion
noun
a standard by which something can be judged or decided
plural criteria

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
 
 
Birthday: November 30, 1985
Age: 26 years old

Kaley Christine Cuoco is an American film and television actress. She first came to attention for her role as Bridget Hennessy on the Emmy Award-winning sitcom 8 Simple Rules (2002–2005). She later starred as Billie Jenkins on the final season of the supernatural drama series Charmed (2005–2006). She has gained international acclaim and recognition for her current role as Penny on the Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning comedy series The Big Bang Theory (2007–present), which became the highest rated comedy on US television among adults 18–49 for the 2009–10 season.

By the way, Kaley is a vegetarian.



 
Birthday: November 30, 1835
Death Date: April 21, 1910

Samuel Langhorne Clemens better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He is most noted for his novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), the latter often called "the Great American Novel."
Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which would later provide the setting for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. He apprenticed with a printer. He also worked as a typesetter and contributed articles to his older brother Orion's newspaper. After toiling as a printer in various cities, he became a master riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River before heading west to join Orion. He was a failure at gold mining, so he next turned to journalism. While a reporter, he wrote a humorous story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," which became very popular and brought nationwide attention. His travelogues were also well received. Twain had found his calling.



 
Birthday: November 30, 1929
Death Date: Apr 18, 2012

Richard Augustus Wagstaff "Dick" Clark, Jr. was an American radio personality and television personality, as well as a cultural icon who remains best known for hosting American television's longest-running variety show, American Bandstand, from 1957 to 1987. He also hosted the game show Pyramid and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, which transmitted Times Square's New Year's Eve celebrations worldwide.

As host of American Bandstand, with his strong communication skills, Clark was a "primary force in legitimizing rock and roll," not only to teenagers, but also to America's adult population. The show gave many new music artists their first exposure to national audiences, including Ike and Tina Turner, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Stevie Wonder, Talking Heads and Simon & Garfunkel. His shows were among the first where blacks and whites performed on the same stage and the live audience seating was desegregated. Singer Paul Anka claimed that Bandstand was responsible for creating a "youth culture." Due to his youthful appearance, Clark was often referred to as "America's oldest teenager".



 
Birthday: November 30, 1924
Death Date: Jan 1, 2005

Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm was an American politician, educator, and author. She was a Congresswoman, representing New York's 12th Congressional District for seven terms from 1969 to 1983. In 1968, she became the first African-American woman elected to Congress. On January 25, 1972, she became the first major-party black candidate for President of the United States and the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination (Margaret Chase Smith had previously run for the 1964 Republican presidential nomination). She received 152 first-ballot votes at the 1972 Democratic National Convention.

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"The great secret of doctors, known only to their wives, but still hidden from the public, is that most things get better by themselves; most things, in fact, are better in the morning."
--Lewis Thomas

Thursday, November 29, 2012

This Month Is Nearly Over

 
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 I managed to get a few snapshots this morning, starting with some just before dark of the full moon and Venus above two saguaro cacti. I do not have my Adobe Elements photo manipulating software installed on this computer so I will wait until I am at home this coming Saturday to prepare them for inclusion in the blog. If, that is, they turn out okay.

One of the winning Powerball tiakets was sold here in Arizona. It was not sold to me. I know this because I stopped buying Powerball tickets earlier this year when the price went up from one dollar to two dollars. One hundred and four dollars is way too much for me to afford to spend on gambling in a year's time, Besides, what would I do with all that money if I were to win?

I suppose I could just give it all to my immediate family. Now there's an idea.

Additional text (if any occurs to me) goes here . . .

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WORD FOR TODAY

terrestrial [tuh-res-tree-uhl]
adjective
1.
pertaining to, consisting of, or representing the earth as distinct from other planets.
2.
of or pertaining to land as distinct from water.
3.
Botany
a. growing on land; not aquatic.
b. growing in the ground; not epiphytic or aerial.
4.
Zoology
living on or in the ground; not aquatic, arboreal, or aerial.
5.
of or pertaining to the earth or this world; worldly; mundane.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
 
 
Birthday: November 29, 1961
Age: 50 years old

Kim Delaney is an American actress best known for her starring role as Detective Diane Russell on the ABC drama television series, NYPD Blue, for which she has won an Emmy Award. Early in her career, she played the role of Jenny Gardner in the hugely popular ABC daytime television drama, All My Children. She later had leading roles in the TV dramas Philly and CSI: Miami and currently stars on the Lifetime television drama Army Wives.

 
Birthday: November 29, 1955
Age: 56 years old

Howard Michael "Howie" Mandel is a Canadian comedian, actor, television host, and voice actor. He is well known as host of the NBC game show Deal or No Deal, as well as the show's daytime and Canadian-English counterparts. Before his career as a game show host, Mandel was best known for his role as rowdy ER intern Dr. Wayne Fiscus on the NBC medical drama St. Elsewhere. He is also well known for being the creator and star of the children's cartoon Bobby's World. On June 6, 2009, he hosted the 2009 Game Show Awards on GSN. Mandel became a judge on NBC's America's Got
Talent, replacing David Hasselhoff, in the fifth season of the reality talent contest. Mandel has mysophobia (an irrational fear of germs) to the point that he does not shake hands with anyone, including enthusiastic contestants on Deal or No Deal, unless he is wearing latex gloves.


 
Birthday: November 29, 1964
Age: 47 years old

Donald Frank "Don" Cheadle, Jr. is an American film actor and producer. Cheadle had an early role in Picket Fences and followed it with performances in Devil in a Blue Dress, Rosewood and Boogie Nights. He then started a collaboration with director Steven Soderbergh that resulted in the movies Out of Sight, Traffic and Ocean's Eleven. Other Cheadle films include The Rat Pack, Things Behind the Sun, Academy Award for Best Picture winner Crash, Swordfish, Ocean's Twelve, Ocean's Thirteen, Reign Over Me, Talk to Me, Traitor and Iron Man 2.


 
Birthday: November 29, 1935
Age: 76 years old

Diane Ladd is an American actress, film director, producer and author. She has appeared in over 120 roles, on television, and in miniseries and feature films, including Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), Wild at Heart (1990), Rambling Rose (1991), Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), Touched by an Angel (1997) (TV), Primary Colors (1998), 28 Days (2000), and American Cowslip (2008). Twice divorced and currently married, Ladd is the mother of actress Laura Dern, by ex-husband, actor Bruce Dern.

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People who annoy people are the luckiest people in the world.
--Howie Mandel

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Out East Of Tucson


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Well, here I am again out in the cactus and brush enhanced portion of the good old Sonoran Desert.



Yes, I am again dog-sitting with Eva. She is a downright pleasurable companion.

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WORD FOR TODAY

palpable [pahl-puh-buhl]
Adjective
- Able to be touched or felt.
- So intense as to be almost touched or felt.

The Urban Dictionary says that palpable means "Sensible by any of the 5 human senses, or by intuition, also known as the 6th sense. An intense feeling."

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

 
Birthday: November 28, 1950
Age: 61 years old

Edward Allen "Ed" Harris is an American actor, writer, and director, known for his performances in Pollock, Appaloosa, The Rock, The Abyss, A Beautiful Mind, A History of Violence, Enemy at the Gates, The Right Stuff, Gone, Baby, Gone, Jackknife, Empire Falls and Game Change. Harris has also narrated commercials for The Home Depot and other companies. He is a three-time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in Apollo 13, The Truman Show and The Hours, along with an Academy Award for Best Actor nomination for the title role in Pollock.
 
 
Birthday: November 28, 1967
Death Date: Feb 8, 2007

Vickie Lynn Marshall, known by her moniker Anna Nicole Smith, was an American model, actress and television personality. Smith first gained popularity in Playboy, becoming the 1993 Playmate of the Year. She modeled for clothing companies, including Guess jeans and Lane Bryant.


 
Birthday: November 28, 1949
Age: 62 years old

Paul Allen Wood Shaffer is a Canadian-American musician, actor, voice actor, author, comedian, and composer who has been David Letterman's sidekick since 1982.


 
Birthday: November 28, 1757
Death Date: Aug 12, 1827

William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. His prophetic poetry has been said to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language". His visual artistry has led one contemporary art critic to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced". Although he lived in London his entire life except for three years spent in Felpham he produced a diverse and symbolically rich corpus, which embraced the imagination as "the body of God", or "Human existence itself".

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My doctor tells me I should start slowing it down - but there are more old drunks than there are old doctors so let's all have another round.
--Willie Nelson

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Taxes? Humph!

  
Tucson Weather Today

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Yesterday I ordered from Amazon the Kindle Edition of the novel Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. The price was $9.99. Within seconds the novel was successfully downloaded to my Kindle. Later in the day, I received via email an invoice from Amazon for $9.99 plus 86 cents tax, for a total of $10.85.

"Whoa Nelly!" What's goin' on here? Tax? What tax? I suppose it's some kind of Sales Tax. But a sales tax has never before been levied on any purchase I've made from Amazon in all the years I have been buying stuff from them. In some cases, when the price was relatively high, such as my TV, I bought it from Amazon to avoid paying the exorbitant Tuscon and Arizona Sales Tax.

I sent an email to Amazon asking why I am suddenly being taxed for online purchases. Supposedly I will receive a reply within 24 hours.

We'll see.


Taxes. Humph!
I remember once a long, long time ago when my dad was angrily stomping from room to room complaining about the income tax form he was filling out.

"Income tax!" he shouted.

Looking right down at me from his incredibly tall height of five feet ten inches, he said, "I remember when this Income Tax first started. They said it was a temporary thing and would only last until the country solved this emergency. Ha! It'll never end, mark my words. It's all Bull Shit! Don't believe anything a politician ever tells you. They're liars, every single last one of them. Don't you ever forget that."

I never did forget it.


Okay . . . here is an update. An email answer came from Amazon. It is a sales tax. Yes, Amazon is now going to be collecting sales tax. On some items.

Amazon states: "You can find additional information about sellers and states or countries that collect sales tax in our Help pages here: www.amazon.com/help/tax#merchants


Great!

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WORD FOR TODAY

levied
past participle, past tense of levy
Verb
Impose (a tax, fee, or fine).
Impose a tax, fee, or fine on.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

   
Buffalo Bob Smith
Birthday: November 27, 1917
Died: July 30, 1998

Buffalo Bob Smith (born Robert Emil Schmidt) was the host of the children's show Howdy Doody.

The Howdy Doody Show was the very first television show I ever saw, and it was when I was around 11 or 12 years old circa 1950 while attending a neighbor's (Paul Moore) birthday party. Not long after than my dad installed a set at our house. It had a 7-inch dark green screen and was connected to an antenna 50-feet in the air atop five lengths of water pipe. It received the only channel available, (WBKB, I think) out of Chicago which was eighty miles away. That single channel came on the air at four o'clock in the afternoon and went off at midnight. Our favorite program was Professional Wrestling.



Birthday: November 27, 1964
Age: 47 years old

Robin Simone Givensis an American actress and model. She is perhaps best known for her role as Darlene Merriman on the ABC television sitcom, Head of the Class.

After meeting in March 1987, Givens married boxer Mike Tyson on February 7, 1988. Tyson was then estimated to have US$50 million, and he and Givens did not make a prenuptial agreement. During their marriage, Givens and her mother bought a $4.5 million mansion in the affluent suburb of Bernardsville, New Jersey.



Birthday: November 27, 1941
Died: May 7, 1998

Edward Thomas "Eddie" Rabbitt was an American singer-songwriter and musician. His career began as a songwriter in the late 1960s, springboarding to a recording career after composing hits such as "Kentucky Rain" for Elvis Presley in 1970 and "Pure Love" for Ronnie Milsap in 1974. Later in the 1970s, Rabbitt helped to develop the crossover-influenced sound of country music prevalent in the 1980s with such hits as "Suspicions" and "Every Which Way but Loose." His duets "Friends and Lovers" and "You and I", with Juice Newton and Crystal Gayle respectively, later appeared on the soap operas Days of Our Lives and All My Children.



Birthday: November 27, 1957
Age: 54 years old

Caroline Bouvier Kennedy is an American author and attorney. She is a member of the influential Kennedy family and the only living child of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy.

In the 2008 presidential election, Kennedy endorsed Democratic candidate Barack Obama for President early in the primary race; she later stumped for him in Orlando, Indiana, and Ohio, served as co-chair of his Vice Presidential Search Committee, and addressed the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver. After Obama's selection of then-Senator Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, Kennedy expressed interest in being appointed to Clinton's vacant Senate seat from New York, but she later withdrew from consideration, citing "personal reasons."


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The genius of our ruling class is that it has kept a majority of the people from ever questioning the inequity of a system where most people drudge along, paying heavy taxes for which they get nothing in return.
--Gore Vidal


Monday, November 26, 2012

I Read Books And Such


Tucson Weather Today

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I ran headfirst into the description of a novel (Kindle Edition) titled Gilead. It was written by Marilynne Robinson. a novelist I had never heard of until now. In the Kindle Store I read a bit from it in the Look Inside section that Amazon provides for those of us who need some assurance that what we buy in the way of books, if not clear and direct writing, is at least understandable and not one of those symbolic flights of fancy composed by some self-important intellectual who commands attention to imaginative  fairy tale emotional ramblings.

From the brief sample provided, Gilead seems to be eminently understandable, and although I hesitate to spend the $9.99 asking price, I am pretty sure I will do so, eventually if not immediately. But I have often found that if I do not do it at once, I put it off and put it off until I have lost interest, or some other arising pursuit has dampened the existing urgency. I have missed many opportunities by hesitancy to part with that which is, in overall reality, merely a pittance.

The story of Gilead is the story of a 76 year old preacher who is also the son of a preacher and is writing a series of letters to his seven year old son. And that's enough about the story. But below is a single paragraph excerpted from it.

I saw a bubble float past my window, fat and wobbly and ripening toward that dragonfly blue they turn just before they burst. So I looked down at the yard and there you were, you and your mother, blowing bubbles at the cat, such a barrage of them that the poor beast was beside herself at the glut of opportunity. She was actually leaping in the air, our insouciant Soapy! Some of the bubbles drifted up through the branches, even above the trees. You two were too intent on the cat to see the celestial consequences of your worldly endeavors. They were very lovely. Your mother is wearing her blue dress and you are wearing your red shirt and you were kneeling on the ground together with Soapy between and that effulgence of bubbles rising, and so much laughter. Ah, this life, this world.

Hm. I will probably buy the book.

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WORD FOR TODAY

effulgence [ih-fuhl-juhns]
noun
a brilliant radiance; a shining forth.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

   
Rich Little
Birthday: November 26, 1938
Age: 74 years old

Richard Caruthers "Rich" Little is a Canadian-American impressionist and voice actor. He has been known nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Voices" (a title also bestowed upon voice actor Mel Blanc).



Born: November 26, 1939
Age: 73 years old
   
Anna Mae Bullock, better known by her stage name Tina Turner, is an American singer whose career has spanned more than half a century, earning her widespread recognition and numerous awards. Turner started out her music career in the mid-1950s as a featured singer with Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm, first recording in 1958 under the name Little Ann with the song, "Box Top". Her introduction to the public as Tina Turner began in the early 1960s with Ike as a member of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. Success followed with a string of notable hits including "River Deep – Mountain High" (1966) and "Proud Mary" (1971).



Born: November 26, 1922
Died: February 12, 2000

Charles Monroe Schulz, nicknamed Sparky, was an American cartoonist, whose comic strip Peanuts proved one of the most popular and influential in the history of the medium and is still widely reprinted on a daily basis.


Born November 26, 1933
Died: October 30, 2007

Robert Gerard Goulet was a Canadian-American singer and actor. He is probably best known for originating the role of Lancelot in the 1960 Broadway musical Camelot and his numerous appearances in Las Vegas.

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"I began what amounted to an effort to reeducate myself. After all those years of school, I felt there was little I knew that I could trust, and I did not want my books to be one more tributary to the sea of nonsense that really is what most conventional wisdom amounts to."
--Marilynne Robinson

Sunday, November 25, 2012

A New Day


Tucson Weather Today

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I have no text prepared for today. Not yet, anyway. If something develops later in the day I will insert it here.

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WORD FOR TODAY

sphincter [sfing-tuhr]
noun
 A ringlike band of muscle that surrounds a bodily opening, constricting and relaxing as required for normal physiological functioning.

A sphincter is an anatomical structure, a circular muscle that normally maintains constriction of a natural body passage or orifice and which relaxes as required by normal physiological functioning. Sphincters are found in many animals; there are over 50 types in the human body, some microscopically small, in particular the millions of precapillary sphincters.

Sphincters prove effective in the mediation of the entrance or release of liquids and fluids; this is evident, for example, in the blowholes of numerous marine mammals.

At the anus, in humans, there are two sphincters which control the exit of feces from the body. The inner sphincter is involuntary and the outer is voluntary.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


John Larroquette
 
Born Nov 25, 1947
Age: 65 years old.

John Edgar Bernard Larroquette, Jr. is an American film, television and stage actor. His roles include Dan Fielding on the 1984-1992 sitcom Night Court (winning a then-unprecedented four consecutive Emmy Awards for his role); Mike McBride in the Hallmark Channel series McBride, John Hemingway on The John Larroquette Show, and Carl Sack in Boston Legal.



 
Born Nov 25, 1944
Age: 68 years old.

Benjamin Jeremy "Ben" Stein is an American actor, writer, lawyer, and commentator on political and economic issues. He attained early success as a speechwriter for American presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Later, he entered the entertainment field and became an actor, comedian, and Emmy Award-winning game show host.



 
Born Nov 25, 1960
Died: July 16, 1999

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr., often referred to as John F. Kennedy, Jr., JFK Jr., John Jr. or John-John, was an American socialite, magazine publisher, lawyer, and pilot. The elder son of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy, Kennedy died in a plane crash along with his wife Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy and his sister-in-law Lauren Bessette, on July 16, 1999.



 
Born Nov 25, 1971
Age: 41 years old.
   
Christina Applegate is an American actress. She is best known for playing the role of Kelly Bundy on the FOX live-action sitcom Married... with Children. Since then, she has established a film and television career, winning a Primetime Emmy and earning a Tony and a Golden Globe nominations. She has major roles in several films including Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, The Big Hit, The Sweetest Thing, Grand Theft Parsons, Anchorman, Farce of the Penguins, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, and Hall Pass. She has also starred in numerous Broadway theatre productions such as the 2005 revival of the musical Sweet Charity. As of May 2012, she is starring in NBC's comedy, Up All Night.


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Saturday, November 24, 2012

Adventures In House-Sitting


Tucson Weather Today

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A couple weeks ago it stormed out in the desert. At one point I looked out the back window and saw a continuously changing colorscape over the mountain tops as the sun streamed through the rolling moisture-darkened clouds and painted the crests and valleys in differing shades of silver and gold and metallic earthtones out beyond and above the nearer living greens.


Eva seemed not to notice the shifting colors all around us as she trotted happily around the pool in her never-ending patrol of the property. She knows her protective duties as guardian of the homestead, and she performs them assiduously.


Rare indeed are the incidents that can distract Eva from the focused attention of her protective instinct. One of them, however, is the sudden and unexpected rise of a hard wind blow. Another is the explosive clap of thunder echoing in from the surrounding desert. Then she races over to me and whines for me to open the door to the house's protective interior.


 Inside dwells safety and a measure of security, and the never lessening pleasures of canine toys like the knotted tug-rope, and like a speedily rolling across the tile floor of a tossed tennis ball to chase after and triumphantly retrieve.

It's a true 2012 dog's life that Eva leads.

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WORD FOR TODAY

assiduous

adj.
- Constant in application or attention; diligent.
- Unceasing; persistent.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY



William F. Buckley Jr.
Born Nov 24, 1925
Died: Feb 27, 2008

William Frank Buckley, Jr. was a conservative American author and commentator. He founded the political magazine National Review in 1955, which had a major impact in stimulating the conservative movement. He hosted 1,429 episodes of the television show Firing Line from 1966 until 1999, where his public persona was famous for a wide vocabulary. He also wrote a nationally syndicated newspaper column, and wrote numerous spy novels.


Born Nov 24, 1784
Died: July 9, 1850.

Zachary Taylor was the 12th President of the United States (1849–1850) and an American military leader. Initially uninterested in politics, Taylor ran as a Whig in the 1848 presidential election, defeating Lewis Cass. He was a planter and slaveholder based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Known as "Old Rough and Ready," Taylor had a 40-year military career in the United States Army, serving in the War of 1812, the Black Hawk War, and the Second Seminole War. He achieved fame leading American troops to victory in the Battle of Palo Alto and the Battle of Monterrey during the Mexican–American War.


Born Nov 24, 1957
Age: 54 years old.

Denise Michelle Crosby is an American actress best known for portraying Security Chief Tasha Yar on Star Trek: The Next Generation. She is also known for her numerous film and television roles and for starring in and producing the film Trekkies. She is the granddaughter of the late entertainer Bing Crosby.


Born Nov 24, 1853
Died: Oct 25, 1921

William Barclay "Bat" Masterson was a figure of the American Old West known as a buffalo hunter, U.S. Marshal and Army scout, avid fisherman, gambler, frontier lawman, and sports editor and columnist for the New York Morning Telegraph. He was the brother of lawmen James Masterson and Ed Masterson.


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I'd rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.
--William F. Buckley, Jr.

Friday, November 23, 2012

Today is Black Friday


 Black Friday,
The shopping day that takes Big Retailers
out of the red and puts them into the black.

Should be called . . .
Hogwash Day.

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WORD FOR TODAY

Indoctrinate
Verb   
Teach (a person or group) to accept a set of beliefs uncritically: "broadcasting was a vehicle for indoctrinating the masses".

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Boris Karloff
 Born Nov 23, 1887
Died: Feb. 2, 1969.

William Henry Pratt, better known by his stage name Boris Karloff, was an English actor. Karloff is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and Son of Frankenstein (1939). His popularity following Frankenstein was such that for a brief time he was billed simply as "Karloff" or "Karloff the Uncanny." His best-known non-horror role is as the Grinch, as well as the narrator, in the animated television special of Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966).



Born Nov 23, 1804
Died: Oct. 8, 1869.

Franklin Pierce was the 14th President of the United States (1853–1857) and is the only President from New Hampshire. Pierce was a Democrat and a "doughface" (a Northerner with Southern sympathies) who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. Pierce took part in the Mexican-American War and became a brigadier general in the Army. His private law practice in his home state, New Hampshire, was so successful that he was offered several important positions, which he turned down. Later, he was nominated as the party's candidate for president on the 49th ballot at the 1852 Democratic National Convention. In the presidential election, Pierce and his running mate William R. King won by a landslide in the Electoral College. They defeated the Whig Party ticket of Winfield Scott and William A. Graham by a 50 percent to 44 percent margin in the popular vote and 254 to 42 in the electoral vote.



Born Nov 23, 1888
Died: Sep 28, 1964

Adolph "Harpo" Marx (later Arthur "Harpo" Marx) was an American comedian and film star. He was the second-oldest of the Marx Brothers. His comic style was influenced by clown and pantomime traditions. He wore a curly reddish wig, and never spoke during performances (he blew a horn or whistled to communicate). Marx frequently used props such as a horn cane, made up of a lead pipe, tape, and a bulbhorn, and he played the harp in most of his films.




Born Nov 23, 1859
Died: July 14, 1881

William H. Bonney (born William Henry McCarty, Jr.), better known as Billy the Kid but also known as Henry Antrim, was a 19th-century American gunman who participated in the Lincoln County War and became a frontier outlaw in the American Old West. According to legend, he killed 21 men, but it is generally believed that he killed between four and nine. He killed his first man at 18.


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Black Friday, because only in America people trample each other for cheap goods, hours after being thankful for what they already have.
--Unknown


Thursday, November 22, 2012

THANKSGIVING DAY 2012




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When the Frost is on the Punkin
by James Whitcomb Riley

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock,
And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin’ turkey-cock,
And the clackin’ of the guineys, and the cluckin’ of the hens,
And the rooster’s hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;
O, it’s then’s the times a feller is a-feelin’ at his best,
With the risin’ sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,
As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock.
















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WORD FOR TODAY


pilgrims

Pilgrims (US), or Pilgrim Fathers (UK), is a name commonly applied to early settlers of the Plymouth Colony in present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States. Their leadership came from the religious congregations of Brownist English Dissenters who had fled the volatile political environment in the East Midlands of England for the relative calm and tolerance of 16th–17th century Holland in the Netherlands. Concerned with losing their cultural identity, the group later arranged with English investors to establish a new colony in North America. The colony, established in 1620, became the second successful English settlement (after the founding of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607) and later the oldest continuously inhabited British settlement in what was to become the United States of America. The Pilgrims' story of seeking religious freedom has become a central theme of the history and culture of the United States.

Landing Of The Pilgrims

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY


Born Nov 22, 1899
Died: Dec 27, 1981

 Howard Hoagland "Hoagy" Carmichael, born in Bloomington, Indiana, was an American composer, pianist, singer, actor, and bandleader. He is best known for composing the music for "Stardust", "Georgia on My Mind", "The Nearness of You", and "Heart and Soul", four of the most-recorded American songs of all time.



Born Nov 22, 1940
Age: 71 years old.

Terence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam has also directed several films, including Brazil (1985), The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), The Fisher King (1991), 12 Monkeys (1995), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009). The only "Python" not born in Britain, he became a naturalized British citizen in 1968. In 2006 he formally renounced his American citizenship.


Born Nov 22, 1958
Age: 53 years old.

Jamie Lee Curtis is an American actress and author. Although she was initially known as a "scream queen" because of her starring roles in several horror films early in her career, such as Halloween, The Fog, Prom Night, and Terror Train, Curtis has since compiled a body of work that spans many genres, and has won BAFTA and Golden Globe awards. Her 1998 book, Today I Feel Silly, and Other Moods That Make My Day, made the best-seller list in The New York Times. Curtis has appeared in advertisements, and is a blogger for The Huffington Post. She is married to actor, screenwriter, and director Christopher Guest.


Born Nov 22, 1921
Died: Oct. 5, 2004.

Rodney Dangerfield (born Jacob Cohen) was an American comedian, and actor, known for the catchphrase "I don't get no respect!," and his monologues on that theme. He is also remembered for his 1980s film roles, especially in Easy Money, Caddyshack, and Back To School.

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Thanksgiving, man. Not a good day to be my pants.

--Kevin James


Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Heck With NaNoWriMo


I am thinking about returning to my former routine for this blog, especially the celebrity birthday section. I truly enjoy doing it.

I am still thinking about it. I got a late start today. Tomorrow will be better.

Okay?


Born Nov 21, 1945
Age: 66 years old.

Goldie Jeanne Hawn is an American actress, film director, producer, and occasional singer. Hawn is known for her roles in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Private Benjamin, Foul Play, Shampoo, Overboard, Bird on a Wire, Death Becomes Her, The First Wives Club, and Cactus Flower, for which she won the 1969 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She is the mother of actors Oliver and Kate Hudson. Hawn has maintained a relationship with actor Kurt Russell since 1983.


Born Nov 21, 1944
Age: 67 years old.

Harold Allen Ramis is an American actor, director, and writer, specializing in comedy. His best-known film acting roles are as Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters (1984) and Russell Ziskey in Stripes (1981), both of which he co-wrote. As a writer/director, his films include the comedies Caddyshack (1980), Groundhog Day (1993), and Analyze This (1999). Ramis was the original head writer of the television series SCTV (in which he also performed), and one of three screenwriters for the film National Lampoon's Animal House (1978).


Born Nov 21, 1937
Age: 74 years old.

Margaret Julia “Marlo” Thomas is an American actress, producer, and social activist known for her starring role on the TV series That Girl (1966–1971). She also serves as National Outreach Director for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

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Tuesday, November 20, 2012

NaNo Update


After nineteen of the thirty days allotted for completion of a fifty-thousand word novel I have amassed a total of 32,000 words. But the words are nearly meaningless; they might as well have been copied from a dictionary. There is no way I can ever tie the various scenes together. This attempt to write a novel in thirty days is absolute madness. I hate doing it.


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Monday, November 5, 2012

Novel In Progress

 
 
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Saturday, November 3, 2012

Unforeseen Problems


Tucson Weather Today

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I am having some unexpected problems that have cropped up in my attempt to write a complete 50,000 word novel within a thirty day period.

While I do not care to disclose the nature of those problems at this time, I am pretty sure I will not succeed in my ill-advised venture.

Time will tell . . .

Darn it.




Thursday, November 1, 2012

NaNoWriMo 2012 Begins Today

Sorry -- This blog will be inactive until December 1.
I am participating in National Novel Writing Month.
I might drop in occasionally though --
 if anything interesting enough occurs.