Yeah, She Was A Wild One

     

Tucson Weather Today

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178 pounds


I am working on a piece of flash fiction titled Road Rage - Present Day. If I am satisfied with it by this coming Saturday, which is tomorrow, I will post it on the blog.

If I am not satisfied with it, I won't.

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I ran across an old picture of my first wife, Kay, the mother of my four children (before she was my wife) and one of her friends, taken just a short time after she graduated from High School.

Bonnie Kay Strain     Evie Miller

Anderson, Indiana, 1958

Here is another picture  --

taken on our wedding day

Rensselaer, Indiana, 1959

Kay suffered an inoperable brain aneurysm in 1978, and died at the age of 37.

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Did You Know . . .?

Broccoli is 'man-made' through the breeding of different cabbage crops.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1993, at Mount Carmel in Waco, Texas, agents of the U.S. Treasury Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) launch a raid against the Branch Davidian compound as part of an investigation into illegal possession of firearms and explosives by the Christian cult. As the agents attempted to penetrate the complex, gunfire erupted, beginning an extended gun battle that left four ATF agents dead and 15 wounded. Six Branch Davidians were fatally wounded, and several more were injured, including David Koresh, the cult's founder and leader. After 45 minutes of shooting, the ATF agents withdrew. The operation, which involved more than 100 ATF agents, was the one of the largest ever mounted by the bureau and resulted in the highest casualties of any ATF operation.

Following the ATF raid, the FBI took over. A standoff with the Branch Davidians stretched into seven weeks, and little progress was made in the telephone negotiations as the Davidians had stockpiled years of food and other necessities before the raid. U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno approved a tear-gas assault on the compound,

Koresh and at least 80 of his followers, including 22 children, died during the federal government's assault on Mount Carmel.

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WORD FOR TODAY

turdiform
adjective
Of, relating to or resembling a thrush, or any other bird of the family Turdidae.

If you feel a little awkward using this word in conversations with your friends, there are two other variants with the same meaning, turdoid and turdine.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Robert Sean Leonard

(born February 28, 1969)

Robert Sean Leonard is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Neil Perry in the film Dead Poets Society (1989) and Dr. James Wilson on the television series House (2004–2012). He regularly stars in Broadway and off-Broadway productions. As of 2013, he has a recurring role as Dr. Roger Kadar on the TNT television series Falling Skies.

Alison Elizabeth "Ali" Larter

(born February 28, 1976)

Ali Larter is an American actress. She is best known for playing the dual roles of Niki Sanders and Tracy Strauss on the NBC science fiction drama Heroes as well as her guest roles on several television shows in the 1990s. Larter's screen debut came in the 1999 film Varsity Blues, followed by the horror films House on Haunted Hill and Final Destination as Clear Rivers. Major supporting roles in the comedy Legally Blonde and the romantic comedy A Lot Like Love led her to lead roles as the titular character in Marigold and in the 2009 thriller Obsessed.

Gilbert Gottfried

(born February 28, 1955)

Gilbert Gottfried is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and voice artist known for his trademark comedic persona of speaking in a loud, grating tone of voice and squinting. His numerous roles in film and television include voicing the parrot Iago in Disney's Aladdin and Digit in the children's cartoon / educational math-based show Cyberchase.

Bernadette Peters

(born February 28, 1948)

Bernadette Peters is an American actress, singer and children's book author. Regarded by many as the foremost interpreter of the works of Stephen Sondheim, Peters is particularly noted for her roles on the Broadway stage, including in the musicals Mack and Mabel, Sunday in the Park with George, Song and Dance, Into the Woods, Annie Get Your Gun and Gypsy.

Peters first performed on the stage as a child and then a teenage actor in the 1960s, and in film and television in the 1970s. She was praised for this early work and for appearances on The Muppet Show, The Carol Burnett Show and in other television work, and for her roles in films like Silent Movie, The Jerk, Pennies from Heaven and Annie.

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Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.
--Buddha

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Not All Fine Writers Are Literati

Tucson Weather Today

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179 pounds

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Do you remember a writer by the name of Larry Gelbart?

Remember M*A*S*H?

Larry Gelbart began as a writer at the age of sixteen for Danny Thomas's radio show after his father, who was Thomas's barber, showed Thomas some jokes Gelbart had written. During the 1940s Gelbart also wrote for Jack Paar and Bob Hope. In the 1950s, his most important work in television involved writing for Red Buttons, Sid Caesar on Caesar's Hour, in Celeste Holm's Honestly, Celeste!, as well as with writers Mel Tolkin, Michael Stewart, Selma Diamond, Neil Simon, Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, and Woody Allen.

In 1972, Gelbart was one of the main forces behind the creation of the television series M*A*S*H, writing the pilot (for which he received a "Developed for Television by..." credit) and then producing, often writing and occasionally directing the series for its first four seasons (1972–1976). M*A*S*H earned Gelbart a Peabody Award and an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series and went on to considerable commercial and critical success.
--Wikipedia entry for Larry Gelbart

Larry Gelbart interview


Another extremely talented writer:

Stephen Joseph Cannell (Feb 5, 1941 - Sept 30, 2010) was an American television producer, writer, novelist and occasional actor, and the founder of Stephen J. Cannell Productions.

After college, Cannell sold his first script to the Universal series It Takes a Thief in 1968. He was quickly hired by the television production branch of Universal Studios and was soon freelance writing for such other crime shows as Ironside and Columbo. Not long afterward, he received his first full-time gig as the story editor of Jack Webb's police series Adam-12.

Cannell created or co-created nearly 40 television series, mostly crime dramas, including The Rockford Files, The Greatest American Hero, The A-Team, Hardcastle and McCormick, Wiseguy, 21 Jump Street, Silk Stalkings, and The Commish. In the process he had, by his own count, scripted more than 450 episodes, and produced or executive produced over 1,500 episodes.

In the 2000s, Cannell turned his attention to novels. As of 2008, he had written 14, half of which featured the character of detective Shane Scully of the Los Angeles Police Department..

Some of his novels were The Plan (1996) Final Victim (1997) King Con (1998) Riding the Snake (1999) The Devil's Workshop (2000) Runaway Heart (2003) and At First Sight (200I)

I have a copy of Cannell's novel King Con which I plan to start reading after I finish John Grishim's The Racketeer which I now have opened on my Kiindle.

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At THE DAILY DISH a few moments ago, I read:

Do children have the right to die?

A reader feels that Belgium is moving in the right direction to legalize euthanasia for terminally-ill kids: "I don’t see why we should force a child to suffer when death is imminent in the short term, the child wants to die, the parents consent, and the doctors are in agreement. I think people in the US need to be much more rational and realistic about these things."

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Did You Know . . .?

Celebrated British military surgeon James Barry was found to be a woman on his death.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1915, The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle was published in novel form. Sherlock Holmes had been a popular character since he first appeared in the story "A Study in Scarlet," published in Beeton's Christmas Annual in 1887. The thin, highly strung detective with extraordinary deductive powers was modeled partly on Dr. Joseph Bell, a medical school teacher at the University of Edinburgh, where Holmes' creator studied.

Conan Doyle created Holmes while practicing medicine in London. Starting in 1891, a series of Holmes stories appeared in The Strand magazine. Holmes' success enabled Doyle to devote himself to writing, but the author soon grew weary of his creation. In The Final Problem, he appeared to kill off both Holmes and his nemesis, Dr. Moriarty, only to resuscitate Holmes later due to popular demand.

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WORD FOR TODAY

literati
noun
persons of scholarly or literary attainments; intellectuals.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Howard Hesseman

(born February 27, 1940)

Howard Hesseman is an American actor best known for playing disc jockey Johnny Fever on WKRP in Cincinnati and schoolteacher Charlie Moore on Head of the Class.

Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor

(Feb 27, 1932 - Mar 23, 2011)

Elizabeth Taylor was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age. National Velvet (1944) was Taylor's first success, and she starred in Father of the Bride (1950), A Place in the Sun (1951), Giant (1956), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959). She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Butterfield 8 (1960), played the title role in Cleopatra (1963), and married her costar Richard Burton. They appeared together in 11 films, including Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), for which Taylor won a second Academy Award.

Joanne Woodward

(born February 27, 1930)

Joanne Woodward is an American actress and producer. She is perhaps best known for her Academy Award-winning role in The Three Faces of Eve (1957). She married in actor Paul Newman in 1958 after their work together in the film The Long, Hot Summer.

Chelsea Victoria Clinton

(born February 27, 1980)

Chelsea Clinton is the only child of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. She is a special correspondent for NBC News and works with the Clinton Foundation and Clinton Global Initiative.

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"Writers, I suppose, are like children imagining."
--Mavis Gallant

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I Hereby Admit . . . I Am Fat

     

Tucson Weather Today

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Stepping on my digital scales, I found yesterday that I now weigh 180 pounds. That means I have gained 20 pounds since I moved into this apartment in Tucson three full years ago.

GOOD GRAVY!

If I can remember to do so, I will post my weight each day somewhere around the top left side of each new post on the ol' blog.

180 pounds. Good Gravy!

I'll bet that if I were to lose thirty or forty pounds some of my joint stiffness and pain would lessen, or perhaps even completely disappear. I could be wrong, but I can't see where it would hurt to try it. Also, I seem to remember that some, maybe most, of my (limited) successes at writing and publishing fiction, fillers. and poetry was achieved when my weight was close to normal.

Hm. It should be interesting to see what changes might come about in the next few months.

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Did You Know . . .?

There are three plural forms of the creature called octopus: they are “octopuses,” “octopi,” and “octopodes” (pronounced ok-TOP-uh-deez).
source:

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1993 at 12:18 p.m., a terrorist bomb exploded in a parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York City, leaving a crater 60 feet wide and causing the collapse of several steel-reinforced concrete floors in the vicinity of the blast. Although the terrorist bomb failed to critically damage the main structure of the skyscrapers, six people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured. The World Trade Center itself suffered more than $500 million in damage. After the attack, authorities evacuated 50,000 people from the buildings, hundreds of whom were suffering from smoke inhalation.

The mastermind of the attack -- Ramzi Ahmed Yousef -- remained at large until February 1995, when he was arrested in Pakistan. Eyad Ismoil, who drove the bomb carrying Ryder van into the parking garage below the World Trade Center, was captured in Jordan and taken back to New York.

In November 1997, Yousef and Ismoil were convicted and subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Only one other man believed to be directly involved in the attack, Iraqi Abdul Rahman Yasin, remains at large.

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WORD FOR TODAY

escutcheon
noun
1.  A shield or emblem bearing a coat of arms.
2.  A flat piece of metal for protection and often ornamentation, around a keyhole, door handle, or light switch.
3.  Idiom Dishonor to one's reputation: a blot on (one's) escutcheon

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Johnny Cash

(Feb 26, 1932 - Sept 12, 2003)

Johnny Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author who was considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Although he is primarily remembered as a country icon, his songs and sound spanned other genres including rock and roll and rockabilly and blues, folk, and gospel. His dark demeanor and dark performance clothing earned him the nickname "The Man in Black". He traditionally began his concerts with the phrase "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash.," followed by his standard "Folsom Prison Blues".

Cash's best-known songs included "I Walk the Line", "Folsom Prison Blues", "Ring of Fire", "Get Rhythm" and "Man in Black". He also recorded humorous numbers like "One Piece at a Time" and "A Boy Named Sue"; a duet with his future wife, June Carter, called "Jackson"; and railroad songs including "Hey, Porter" and "Rock Island Line".

Antoine "Fats" Domino Jr.

(born February 26, 1928)

Fats Domino is an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. Domino released five gold (million-copy-selling) records before 1955. Domino also had 35 Top 40 American hits. Domino crossed into the pop mainstream with "Ain't That A Shame" and his 1956 version of the song, "Blueberry Hill" reached Number two in the Top 40, and "Blueberry Hill" sold more than 5 million copies worldwide in 1956-57.  He had further hit singles between 1956 and 1959, including "When My Dreamboat Comes Home", "I'm Walkin'", "Valley of Tears", "It's You I Love", "Whole Lotta Loving", and "I Want to Walk You Home".

John Herbert "Jackie" Gleason

(Feb 26, 1916 - June 24, 1987)

Jackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, exemplified by his character Ralph Kramden in The Honeymooners. Among his notable film roles were Minnesota Fats in the 1961 drama The Hustler (starring Paul Newman) and Buford T. Justice in the Smokey and the Bandit series.

Chase Masterson

(born February 26, 1963)

Chase Masterson is an American actress, singer and voice actor. Masterson portrayed the Bajoran Leeta on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for five years, from 1995 to 1999, and Ivy Lief on General Hospital. She starred as a sultry singer in James Kerwin's sci-fi film noir Yesterday Was a Lie, which she also produced, Her television guest-starring roles include ER and Sliders; in the latter, her role was that of Kelly Welles, the sister of Wade Welles.

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Dieting isn't complicated: if you eat 2,000 calories, you have to burn it off; simple as that.
--James Purefoy

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This Is Who I Am

   

To Repeat: A Writer Writes

     

Tucson Weather Today

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There is no more loathsome, sorrow-inducing endeavor than attempting to write a novel, and write it well when one believes oneself to be an over-the-hill, pedestrian scribbler.

But I am still trying.

Perhaps persistence will triumph in (before) the end.

"I think I can, I think I can, I think I can..."


Research:

Some (supposed) facts I will probably use in my novel:

The bolide arrived from the southeast, traveling at a low angle relative to the earth, so that it came in not so much from above as from the side, like a plane losing altitude. The thing in the sky is six miles wide.

A bolide is a large, brilliant meteor, especially one that explodes. A fireball.

Sixty-six million years ago, an asteroid crashed into the Yucatán Peninsula, leaving behind a crater 110 miles wide and twenty miles deep and a colossally larger hole in the tree of life. The impact and its after­effects wiped out an estimated 75 percent of species, including, most famously, all non-avian dinosaurs. The event, the end - Cretaceous extinction - is one of six massive die-offs in the history of the planet. Five of them happened in the distant past: 450 million, 375 million, 252 million, 200 million, and 66 million years ago.

The sixth one is happening right now.

From:
The Sixth Extinction Examines Human Overkillers and the Next Great Die-Off by Kathryn Schulz


Another piece of wisdom (hopefully) for my novel:

"I find it extraordinarily irritating when people treat the bishops in the Lords, or the Church elsewhere, or the clergy in general, as moral experts. I think that is an outrageous thing to believe, but people still believe it automatically, without thinking. They think that these members of the Church, of any religion, have a special insight."
--Mary Warnock

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Did You Know . . .?

After 5 years of continual rejection, Agatha Christie finally landed a publishing deal. Her book sales are now in excess of $2 billion.

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Event In History

On this day in 1870, Hiram Rhoades Revels, a Republican from Natchez, Mississippi, was sworn into the U.S. Senate, becoming the first African American ever to sit in Congress. On February 25, two days after Mississippi was granted representation in Congress for the first time since it seceded in 1861, Revels was sworn in.

Although African Americans Republicans never obtained political office in proportion to their overwhelming electoral majority, Revels and some 15 other African American men served in Congress during Reconstruction, more than 600 served in state legislatures, and hundreds of African Americans held local offices.

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WORD FOR TODAY

perseverance
noun
Steady persistence in adhering to a course of action, a belief, or a purpose; steadfastness.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Bob Lloyd Schieffer

(born February 25, 1937)

Bob Schieffer is an American television journalist who has been with CBS News since 1969, serving 23 years as anchor on the Saturday edition of CBS Evening News from 1973 to 1996; chief Washington correspondent since 1982, moderator of the Sunday public affairs show Face the Nation since 1991. From March 2005 to August 31, 2006, Schieffer was interim weekday anchor of the CBS Evening News. As of 2011, he is one of the primary substitutes for Scott Pelley.

Elizabeth Téa Pantaleoni

(born February 25, 1966)

Téa Leoni is an American actress. She has starred in a wide range of films including Jurassic Park III, The Family Man, Deep Impact, Fun with Dick and Jane, Flirting with Disaster, Spanglish, Bad Boys, Ghost Town and Tower Heist.

A Photo I Like Better

James Gilmore "Jim" Backus

(Feb 25, 1913 - July 3, 1989)

Jim Backus was an American radio, television, film, and voice actor. Among his most famous roles are the voice of nearsighted cartoon character Mr. Magoo, the rich Hubert Updike III on the radio version of The Alan Young Show, Joan Davis's character's husband (a domestic court judge) on TV's I Married Joan, James Dean's character's father in Rebel Without a Cause and Thurston Howell, III on the 1960s sitcom Gilligan's Island. He also starred in his own show of one season, The Jim Backus Show, also known as Hot off the Wire.

Rashida Leah Jones

(born February 25, 1976)

Rashida Jones is an American film and television actress, comic book author, screenwriter, and occasional singer. Jones is widely known for her role as Ann Perkins on NBC's comedy Parks and Recreation. She also played Louisa Fenn on Fox TV's Boston Public and was a recurring cast member who portrayed Karen Filippelli on The Office. She has had numerous film roles, including in Our Idiot Brother, The Social Network, The Muppets, and I Love You, Man. She co-wrote the screenplay for Celeste and Jesse Forever (2012), in which she starred.

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Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.
--Marie Curie

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A Walk On The Tamer Side

     

Tucson Weather Today

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While walking West alongside Speedway Boulevard Saturday I noticed that there was a big event going on behind the showroom buildings at the Mesquite Valley Growers Nursery. There were so many cars parked there that the parking lots were filled, as was the adjacent strip mall lot. I didn't go back to see what it was all about, but the front space, alongside the sidewalk, contained some potted fruit trees. I snapped a couple shots of a group of them.

Here Is One Of The Photos - A Triad Of Lemon Trees

By the way, A triad is a group of three.


On the subject of walking: as my age advances, I must admit that my legs are giving me some trouble lately, and are in fact threatening my ability to continue indulging in my habit of daily fitness walking. My calf muscles are prone to cramping and become even more susceptible with lengthy strides and overall length of the walking trip. My thigh-to-hip ball joints are also becoming more painful after (and during) a long walk.

I hate to face the fact that I might soon have to curtail the length of my daily walks, or even (God forbid) stop them altogether. It must be remembered that I will soon be 75 years old and unable to do all the things I used to do.

But I suppose that to wait and see is most likely the best course for me to take.

Right?

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Did You Know . . .?

Frank Sinatra's father was a lightweight boxer who fought under the name Marty O'Brien and served with the Hoboken Fire Department as a Captain. His mother, known as Dolly, was extremely influential in the neighborhood and in local Democratic Party circles, but she also ran an illegal abortion business that provided services for free, from her home; she was arrested several times and convicted twice for this offense.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day, in 1868 the U.S. House of Representatives voted 11 articles of impeachment against President Andrew Johnson, nine of which cite Johnson's removal of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, a violation of the Tenure of Office Act. The House vote made President Johnson the first president to be impeached in U.S. history.

The Republican-dominated Congress greatly opposed Johnson's Reconstruction program and in March 1867 passed the Tenure of Office Act over the president's veto. The bill prohibited the president from removing officials confirmed by the Senate without senatorial approval. President Johnson attempted to test the constitutionality of the act by replacing Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton with General Ulysses S. Grant.

The House of Representatives, which had already discussed impeachment after Johnson's dismissal of Stanton, initiated formal impeachment proceedings against the president. On February 24, Johnson was impeached, and on March 13 his impeachment trial began in the Senate under the direction of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase. The trial ended on May 26 with Johnson's opponents narrowly failing to achieve the two-thirds majority necessary to convict him.

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WORD FOR TODAY

impeach
verb
1.
  a. To make an accusation against.
  b. To charge (a public official) with improper conduct in office before a proper tribunal.
2. To challenge the validity of; try to discredit: impeach a witness's credibility.

Usage Note: When an irate citizen demands that a disfavored public official be impeached, the citizen clearly intends for the official to be removed from office. This popular use of impeach as a synonym of "throw out" (even if by due process) does not accord with the legal meaning of the word. As recent history has shown, when a public official is impeached, that is, formally accused of wrongdoing, this is only the start of what can be a lengthy process that may or may not lead to the official's removal from office.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

James Farentino

(Feb 24, 1938 - Jan 24, 2012)

James Farentino was an American actor. He appeared in nearly 100 television, film and stage roles, among them The Final Countdown, Jesus of Nazareth, and Dynasty.

Kristin L. Davis

(born February 24, 1965)

Kristen Davis is an American actress. She first rose to prominence and achieved fame for playing the role of Brooke Armstrong on Melrose Place and went on to achieve greater success as Charlotte York Goldenblatt on HBO's Sex and the City.

Barry Knapp Bostwick

(born February 24, 1945)

Barry Bostwick is a Tony Award winning American stage and screen actor. He is known for playing Brad Majors in the 1975 cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He replaced Peter Scolari as Mr. Tyler in the sitcom What I Like About You, as well as portraying Mayor Randall Winston in the sitcom Spin City.

Emily DiDonato

(born February 24, 1991)

Emily DiDonato is an American model. She made her debut in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2013.

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 "The best revenge is massive success."
--Frank Sinatra

This Is Who I Am

   

Guest Blogger 2-23-2014

     

Life Events and Construction Snippets

Next month or the month after, I have to get a colonoscopy. Nothing serious, but the doctor wants to be sure. (Do they laugh when they write out that lab slip?)

Seriously, though, keeping ourselves healthy is something we can do something about, and as a member of one of the lists I'm on said, "Get your colon oscoppied (and Ladies, also your mammies grammed)!" These tests can be yucky, but they can and do save lives.

I finally figured out the best thing about renovation. It's all about the things I'm replacing: the toilet in the back bathroom, the shower, the tub. You know what it is? When you replace something, you don't have to clean it! Why clean something that's being ripped out tomorrow? This adventure has been a grand housecleaning vacation.

With the crew taking apart the back bathroom, I'll also be very glad when the dirt on the floor doesn't include pieces of broken tile.

Some of you may be glad to know I've discovered the Beer Spoon. You know that spoon you get with your plate of spaghetti in a restaurant? In our house, one comes with the beer, too. We're still learning the ins and outs of our beer dispenser, so we haven't quite got the foamy part right yet. Each glass of beer can come with up to three-quarters of the glass full of fuzzy stuff. All that white, frothy stuff is a bit of a bother. (Remember some commercial where guys were blowing the head off the beer? Which brand was that?)

Enter the Beer Spoon.

It's very simple. You pour at the dispenser, then you move to the sink. Pick up the Beer Spoon, and shovel that foam right into the sink. Repeat two or three times and you've got a glass that's mostly beer instead of foam. Voila!

More construction lessons:

     * Hide anything you don't want broken, like dust pans and buckets
     * Hide anything you don't want dirty, like good towels and your best slacks
     * Remove anything from the room BEFORE construction begins if you want to keep it
     * Offer food and water to the crew (it works!)
     * Check the bedroom alarm clock daily for room-specific power outages
     * Check the windows you don't normally open before going to bed
     * Lock the beer dispenser (or at least the Beer Spoon)

In a couple of weeks, the kitchen work begins. Can I come to your place for dinner?


Copyright 2013 Michelle Hakala
http://www.winebird.com/

   

Reading Brings Me Pleasure - Writing Does Not

     

Tucson Weather Today

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I just oredered a used book (via Amazon) ($3.79) - it's a paperback copy of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. Don't know why. I've never read any of her books, and have only heard of her and her novels in short blurbs. Golly Gee! I do so love to read.

But . . .

The task of creative writing has become such a tiresome endeavor for me that it will probably again be soon abandoned. The product of my latest attempt... well... it sucks.


The Pleasure of Changing My Mind is the title of Sam Harris's latest blog post. As is almost always the case, it is both entertaining and enlightening - to me, anyway. Not of any real import, though.

The Pleasure of Changing My Mind

Of course, I often change my mind. Always have. About stupid things.

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Did You Know . . .?

The Church of Satan does not "worship" or believe in Satan, nor does it believe in gods.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

In the early morning hours of February 22, 2006, a gang of at least six men, some of them armed, stole £53 million from the Securitas bank depot in Kent, Great Britain. It was the largest such theft in British history.

The plot was well planned. On the evening before, two men, dressed as police officers, pulled the depot manager, Colin Dixon, over as he was driving in nearby Stockbury. They convinced him to get out of his car, and forced him into their vehicle. At about the same time, two more men visited Dixon’s home and picked up Dixon’s wife and eight-year-old son; eventually all three Dixons were taken to a farm in West Kent, where the gang threatened their lives if Colin refused to cooperate with the robbery.

Police continue to investigate the case, and more than 30 people have been arrested, though there have been no convictions.

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WORD FOR TODAY

Satanism
noun
1.  the recognition or worship of Satan or the powers of evil.
2.  a travesty of Christian rites in which Satan is worshiped.
3.  diabolical or satanic disposition, behavior, or activity.

Satanism is a broad term referring to a group of Western religions comprising diverse ideological and philosophical beliefs. Their shared features include symbolic association with, or admiration for the character of Satan, and Prometheus, which are in their view, liberating figures. It was estimated that there were 50,000 Satanists in 1990. There may be as many as one hundred thousand in the world.

The Church of Satan is an organization dedicated to the acceptance of the carnal self, as articulated in The Satanic Bible, written in 1969 by Anton Szandor LaVey.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

George Washington

(Feb 22, 1732 - Dec 14, 1799)

George Washington was the first President of the United States (1789–1797), the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.

Drew Blyth Barrymore

(born February 22, 1975)

Drew Barrymore is an American actress, screenwriter, film director, producer, model and author who is a descendant of the Barrymore family of well-known American stage and cinema actors, and is the granddaughter of film legend John Barrymore. Barrymore first appeared in an advertisement when she was eleven months old, a 1978 episodic television debut The Waltons as Melissa in season 7: episode 4 and her film debut in Altered States in 1980. Afterwards, she starred in her breakout role as Gertie in Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and quickly became one of Hollywood's most recognized child actresses, going on to establish herself in mainly comic roles.

Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy

(Feb 22, 1932 - Aug 25, 2009)

Ted Kennedy was the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. He was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and was the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history, having served there for almost 47 years. As the most prominent living member of the Kennedy family for many years, he was also the last surviving son of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.; the youngest brother of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, both victims of assassination; and the father of Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy.

James Hong

(born February 22, 1929)

James Hong is an American actor, voice actor and director and former president of the Association of Asian/Pacific American Artists (AAPAA). A prolific acting veteran, Hong's career spans more than 50 years and includes more than 350 roles in film, television, and video games.

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But who prays for Satan? Who, in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most?
--Mark Twain

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Religion - A Stumbling Block To Progress

     

Tucson Weather Today

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I have been doing much more reading than writing lately. I know, I know; I should get busy and do something productive. But . . .


Mother Jones is a magazine I used to subscribe to, sometime back nearer to the Stone Age than we are now. Of course, Mother Jones is now online and is free, so I am no longer subscribed to the print version. It often surprises me how many of their articles grab my attention and pique my curiosity.

Such as the three that follow:


Last month, a Catholic school district in Montana fired middle-school teacher Shaela Evenson for becoming pregnant outside of marriage. Evenson, who taught literature and physical education at Butte Central Catholic Schools for nearly 10 years, was dismissed after the school district received an anonymous letter revealing her pregnancy. Despite the fact that Evenson's principal has called her an "excellent teacher," officials at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena, which oversees Evenson's school, are standing by their decision. They contend that sex outside of marriage violates the morality clause in the teaching contract Evenson signed. On Thursday, Patrick Haggarty, the superintendent of Catholic schools for the diocese, told the Montana Standard, "It's not easy being a Christian or a Catholic in today's world. Our faith asks us to do things that right now are not popular with society."

More . . .

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In early August, a few weeks before forensic scientists began exhuming dozens of unmarked graves at the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, five older black men took a road trip to Marianna, a rural town on the Florida panhandle -- historic Klan country -- to confront their demons on the reform school’s vast, wooded campus.

At least 96 children died at Dozier between 1914 and 1973, according to school records, and while state officials say there’s no proof, former students insist that some of the deaths were the result of foul play. Boys of all races were routinely, brutally, and even fatally beaten by staff, they allege; some were raped, and “runners” were fired upon—at least seven kids were reported dead after trying to escape.

More . . .

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Thoughts About Good And Evil

Maybe you already know the famous hypothetical dilemma: A train is barreling down a track, about to hit five people, who are certain to die if nothing happens. You are standing at a fork in the track and can throw a switch to divert the train to another track -- but if you do so, one person, tied to that other track, will die. So what would you do? And moreover, what do you think your fellow citizens would do?

More . . .

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Did You Know . . .?

African-Americans comprise 13 percent of the U.S. population and 14 percent of the monthly drug users, but 37 percent of the people arrested for drug-related offenses in America.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day, February 21 in 1965, one week after his home was firebombed, Malcolm X was shot to death by Nation of Islam members while speaking at a rally of his organization in New York City. In 1946, at the age of 21, Malcolm was sent to prison on a burglary conviction. It was there he encountered the teachings of Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam, whose members are popularly known as Black Muslims.

Malcolm made a Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, where he was profoundly affected by the lack of racial discord among orthodox Muslims. He returned to America, rejected Elijah Muhammad's philosophy, and founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity, which advocated black identity and held that racism, not the white race, was the greatest foe of the African American.

One week after his home was firebombed, Malcolm X was shot to death by Nation of Islam members.

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WORD FOR TODAY

segregation
noun
1.  The act of segregating or state of being segregated.
2.  The practice or policy of creating separate facilities within the same society for the use of a minority group.

Racial segregation is separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, riding on a bus, or in the rental or purchase of a home

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Allen Kelsey Grammer

(born February 21, 1955)

Kelsey Grammer is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, producer, director, writer and singer. Grammer is known for his two-decade portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the NBC sitcoms Cheers and Frasier.

Jennifer Love Hewitt

(born February 21, 1979)

Jennifer Love Hewitt is an American actress, producer, and author. Hewitt began her acting career as a child by appearing in television commercials and the Disney Channel series Kids Incorporated. She rose to fame in teenage popular culture in her roles in the Fox series Party of Five as Sarah Reeves Merrin, and films I Know What You Did Last Summer and its sequel.

Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman

(born 21 February 1946)

Alan Rickman is an English actor. He is well known for his film performances as Hans Gruber in Die Hard, Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series, Éamon de Valera in Michael Collins, Metatron in Dogma, and Ronald Reagan in The Butler.

Ellen Tyne Daly

(born February 21, 1946)

Tyne Daly is an American stage and screen actress, known for her work as Detective Mary Beth Lacey in the television series Cagney & Lacey, Maxine Gray in the television series Judging Amy and as Alice Henderson in the television series Christy.

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Once you begin to explain or excuse all events on racial grounds, you begin to indulge in the perilous mythology of race.
--James Earl Jones

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