A Change In The Weather

     

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

“One horse-laugh is worth ten-thousand syllogisms.” 
--H.L. Mencken

Just at daybreak Eva and I went out onto the pool deck so she could attend to her morning ablutions (?) and I hastily stepped back, startled, as an unusual hint of frosty feeling nipped at the skin of my exposed arms. The wind whipping in from across the desert from the mountains was actually cold -- I haven't felt coldness for quite some time. I walked over to the outdoor thermometer and could hardly believe my eyes. The temperature was 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

Eva was running laps around the pool joyfully, paying no attention to the chill. She runs joyfully when the temperature is 110 degrees and when it is zero. It's just wonderful, you know, to be young, strong, and healthy and free to run around and around that cement pond.

You know?

_____

Did You Know . . .?

Vivid flashes of a memory like getting your favorite toy at Christmas, seeing a loved one die, or remembering exactly what you were doing during 9/11, are called flashbulb memories, and they are formed during times of high emotion or surprise.

_____

HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1962 at Oxford, Mississippi, James H. Meredith, an African American, was escorted onto the University of Mississippi campus by U.S. Marshals, setting off a deadly riot. Two men were killed before the racial violence was quelled by more than 3,000 federal soldiers. The next day, Meredith successfully enrolled and began to attend classes amid continuing disruption. In 1966, Meredith returned to the public eye when he began a lone civil rights march in an attempt to encourage voter registration by African Americans in the South. Just two days into the march, he was sent to a hospital by a sniper's bullet. Meredith recovered and rejoined the march he had originated.

_____

WORD FOR TODAY

moribund
adjective
1. in a dying state; near death.
2. on the verge of extinction or termination.
3. not progressing or advancing; stagnant.

_____

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Eric Stoltz

(born September 30, 1961)

Eric Stoltz is an American actor. He is known for playing the role of Rocky Dennis in the biographical drama film Mask, and has appeared in a wide variety of films from mainstream fare like Some Kind of Wonderful to independent films like Pulp Fiction, Killing Zoe, and Kicking and Screaming. He recently portrayed Daniel Graystone in the science fiction television series Caprica, and became a regular director on the television series, Glee.

Angie Dickinson

(born September 30, 1931)

Angie Dickinson is an American actress who has appeared in more than 50 films and starred on television as Sergeant Leann "Pepper" Anderson in the successful 1970s crime series Police Woman.

John Royce "Johnny" Mathis

(born September 30, 1935)

Johnny Mathis is an American singer. He became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status and 73 making the Billboard charts to date. Johnny Mathis has sold well over 350 million records worldwide

Francine Joy "Fran" Drescher

(born September 30, 1957)

Fran Drescher is an American film and television actress, comedian, producer, and activist. She is best known for her role as Fran Fine in the hit TV series The Nanny (1993–99), and for her nasal voice and thick New York accent.

__________

"I just stepped in shit, and now I’ve got political rhetoric all over my shoes.” 
--Jarod Kintz

NASA TV

This Is Who I Am

   

TV

     

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

I watched the second episode of Madam Secretary last night. I probably won't be watching it anymore. Looks as if it is going to be one of those shows where the strong, independent-minded woman knows how to do things (based on empathy and feelings instead of logic) better than anyone else and all the rest of the government leaders are greedy power seeking politicians, and, by the way, are also idiots.

And it seems to be nothing more than a modern-day soap opera.

__________

This Is Who I Am

     

Guest Blogger 9/28/14

     

The Journey

It's been a long wait, hasn't it? Almost a month has passed since I told you I had applied for another position within my company. I thank you all for your patience, and your prayers.

Today, I was offered a position. It's not the one I originally went for, though. Therein lies a tale, and so I'm here Driveling it.

I originally applied for an Intermediate Operations Specialist position. (I am currently an Intermediate Business Information Analyst.) This new job had a primary function which would take up most of the person's calendar, with a bit of space left over for the odd analyst-type task. It was within the team I'd been ripped away from a few months ago, and while I didn't know the primary function I was sure I could learn.

Just after the time of the interviews, the race was between myself and one other person; one other person who was currently doing some of that primary function and had had some training in the rest of it. He was stiff competition and I bit my lip and chewed my nails as both of us waited for a decision.

Time dragged and it seemed as if things were thrown in the way. "No news today, we're waiting on x." became something I heard often. Then about three weeks ago, when I was about to stop asking for fear I'd be disqualified as too much of a pest, the hiring manager and her manager took me aside.

"We've decided to offer the position to him," the manager's manager said, and then added without pause, "but we received approval from the big boss to open a second position." Then they explained to me that they were short-handed enough, and had such good prospects apply, that they wanted to hire us both. In order to do that, they would give the other person the slot originally opened, since he was already doing some of that work, and open a second, senior, position.

I didn't have to reapply or reinterview, but I would have to wait for the week to pass that is required for a job posting. If anyone qualified applied, I would have to wait for them to stagger through the interview process.

That time came and went, and the hiring manager went out on vacation. I got sick and spent three days not caring about any position at all, and when the following Monday rolled around, the Human Resources person setting everything up (including preliminary questions for prospects) was on vacation.

Another week to wait!

Well, not quite. Here it is, not quite a week, and I've been offered, and accepted, the second position to open. Once negotiations with my current boss are completed (about when I can start and how to handle the old workload during transition), I will be a Senior Operations Specialist.

It's been worth the wait (though I may not have thought so during it) and I am looking forward to waking in the morning eager to go to work.


Copyright 2014 Michelle Hakala
http://www.winebird.com/

9/27/2014

     

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

This Ferguson turmoil would sputter out if only the media would stop roiling it up, over and over and over again.

'nuff said.

__________

This Is Who I Am

9/26/2014

     

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

I don't know if I am as totally tired as I feel this morning or whether I am just too lazy to attempt to think, or write anything, or to do anything.

Doesn't really matter, I suppose.

The result is the same.

__________

This Is Who I Am

Lights! Camera! RHETORIC!

     

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

There comes a time when what is needed is not just rhetoric, but boots on the ground.
--Baldwin Spencer

Yesterday I listened to President Obama's speech to the United Nations.

No comment . . .


This morning there was nothing worth watching or listening to on the network's morning news show.

So . . . no comment.

_____

Did You Know . . .?

A police officer in New Jersey crashed his SUV into a Dunkin Donuts shop.

_____

HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1981, Sandra Day O'Connor became the first female U.S. Supreme Court justice in history when she was sworn in by Chief Justice Warren Burger.

In 1965, she had become an assistant attorney general for Arizona and in 1969 was appointed to the Arizona State Senate to occupy a vacant seat. Subsequently elected and reelected to the seat, she became the first woman in the United States to hold the position of majority leader in a state senate. In 1974, she was elected a superior court judge in Maricopa County, Arizona.

On July 1, 2005, O'Connor announced her retirement from the U.S. Supreme Court. She was replaced by Justice Samuel Alito in January 2006.

_____

WORD FOR TODAY

stumblebum
noun Slang
1. A person regarded as blundering or inept.
2. A punch-drunk or second-rate prizefighter

_____

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Willard Carroll "Will" Smith, Jr.

(born September 25, 1968)

Will Smith is an American actor. He has enjoyed success in television and film. In April 2007, Newsweek called him the most powerful actor in Hollywood.

Barbara Walters

(born September 25, 1929)

Barbara Walters is an American broadcast journalist, author, and television personality. She has hosted morning television shows Today and The View, the television news magazine 20/20, co-anchored the ABC Evening News,

Michael Kirk Douglas

(born September 25, 1944)

Michael Douglas is an American actor and producer in movies and television. He has won two Academy Awards -- as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street -- and. he won an Emmy Award in 2013 for his portrayal of Liberace in the HBO film Behind the Candelabra. Other performances include The Game, Wonder Boys, Traffic, and Falling Down. He is the eldest of actor Kirk Douglas' four sons.

Heather Deen Locklear

(born September 25, 1961)

Heather Locklear is an American actress, known for her television roles as Sammy Jo Carrington on Dynasty, Officer Stacy Sheridan on T.J. Hooker, Amanda Woodward on Melrose Place and Caitlin Moore on Spin City. She had a recurring role on the TV Land sitcom Hot in Cleveland and a main role on the TNT drama-comedy television series Franklin & Bash in 2013.

__________

Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men.
--Plato

This Is Who I Am

   

9/24/2014

    

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

The creative component of my meandering mind has abandoned me. Let's hope it is jut a temporary state.

This Is Who I Am

   

9/23/14

     

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

I watched and listened to President Obama this morning as he gave his four-minute speech regarding bombing strikes in Iraq and Syria before heading to New York to attend a meeting concerning Climate Change.

I was not overly impressed.

__________

This Is Who I Am

More TV Watching

     

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

"Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators.”
--Stephen Fry

Yesterday I watched the final episode of The Roosevelts on PBS. I am  not sure why, but I'm glad I viewed it.

Also:

I watched the documentary about the late Keith Martin on TLC. It affected me so strongly that I did a Google search to learn more about this nearly unbelievable story.

Britain's fattest man: Keith Martin - who can't sit up, wash himself or go to the loo - gives up his 24-egg breakfasts in a last ditch attempt to lose weight.

Read more:


I watched the first episode of Madam Secretary starring Tea Leoni on CBS last night. I like Tea Leoni... I like her a LOT. But I did not much like the show.

Tea Leoni

Hopefully, the show will get better as time goes by.

_____

Did You Know . . .?

An avid American cyclist named Tom Justice once successfully robbed about 30 banks across the country on his bike by using his fast pedaling skills to evade police.

_____

HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which set a date for the freedom of more than 3 million black slaves in the United States and recast the Civil War as a fight against slavery. The proclamation was a presidential order and not a law passed by Congress, so Lincoln then pushed for an antislavery amendment to the U.S. Constitution to ensure its permanence. With the passage of the 13th Amendment in 1865, slavery was eliminated throughout America

Lincoln's handwritten draft of the final Emancipation Proclamation was destroyed in the Chicago Fire of 1871. Today, the original official version of the document is housed in the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

_____

WORD FOR TODAY

concentrate
verb
1. focus one's attention or mental effort on a particular object or activity.
2. do or deal with (one particular thing) above all others.
3. gather (people or things) together in numbers or in a mass.
4. increase the strength or proportion of (a substance or solution) by removing or reducing the water or any other diluting agent or by selective accumulation of atoms or molecules.
noun
5. a substance made by removing water or other diluting agent; a concentrated form of something, especially food.

_____

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Scott Vincent James Baio

(born September 22, 1960)

Scott Baio is an American actor, best known for his roles as Chachi Arcola on the sitcom Happy Days and its spin-off Joanie Loves Chachi, the titular character on the sitcom Charles in Charge and the main character in the musical Bugsy Malone. He is also known for his role as Dr. Jack Stewart in the medical-mystery-drama series Diagnosis: Murder. Baio has also appeared in various television programs as a guest star, several independent films, and currently stars on the Nick at Nite sitcom See Dad Run.

Billie Paul Piper

(born September 22, 1982)

Billie Piper is an English actress. Her acting career began in 2004. Piper's most famous role is as Rose Tyler, companion to The Doctor from 2005 to 2006, in the BBC sci-fi series Doctor Who, a role she reprised in 2008, 2010, and 2013. From 2007 until 2011, she starred as the high-flying escort Belle de Jour in the TV series Secret Diary of a Call Girl. She currently stars as Brona, an Irish immigrant, in the horror TV series Penny Dreadful.

Laura Dianne Vandervoort

(born September 22, 1984)

Laura Vandervoort is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her roles as Sadie Harrison in the Canadian television series Instant Star, Arla 'The Bolt-Gun Killer' Cogan in the sci-fi crime series Haven, Kara Zor-El in the American television series Smallville, and Lisa in the ABC science fiction series V. In 2014 she starred in Bitten.

Bonnie Lynne Hunt

(born September 22, 1961)

Bonnie Hunt is an American actress, comedian, and daytime television host. She has appeared in the films Rain Man, Beethoven, Beethoven's 2nd, Jumanji, Jerry Maguire, The Green Mile, Cheaper by the Dozen, and Cheaper by the Dozen 2. Hunt has starred in the television series Grand and Davis Rules as well as creating, producing, writing, and starring in The Building, Bonnie, and Life with Bonnie. From 2008 to 2010, she hosted the day time talk show The Bonnie Hunt Show.

__________

"One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for 1,000 years. To read is to voyage through time."
--Carl Sagan

NASA TV

This Is Who I Am

Guest Blogger 9/21/14

     

The Hope of Change

For a long while I've had nothing to say. Work was the same, alaHouse was the same, and the days blended into one another.

Then on a bit ago, my computer's hard drive died. I hadn't done backups as religiously as I should have, so I sent my computer to a data recovery place. Even knowing the PC wouldn't boot, it was hard to watch it walk out the door with some stranger.

After what felt like forever but was really just short of two weeks, I was told they couldn't save any data.

Ultimately, after receiving my computer back, and putting stuff back on it from backups, it looks like I lost two weeks' worth of data. (Plus the time that I didn't have my primary system, so I have stuff to move and integrate.)

Two weeks of accounting, two weeks of Desk Drawer stuff, two weeks of Journal Entries. All gone. Some of it, of course, is replaceable: the bank statements tell me what the accounting program is missing, the archives kept track of Desk Drawer for me, high scores on video games are fleeting things anyway, but one thing can't be reconstructed.

My Journal for those two weeks is gone. Tragically, I'll never know what I was thinking.

The PC is almost totally put back in order, and at the tail end of all this excitement, our television and DVD player decided to conspire against us.

Perhaps it's some sort of electronic flu.

Harry and I decided to get what he's been wanting for awhile, so we called some places for quotes on a home theatre. After a week or two of dealing with inept service folk (and just after doing this with the ones who tried to recover data off my broken PC - some truly idiotic people), we found someone really good. The final result is surprisingly amazing.

A 50" Samsung plasma HD television now fills (*really* fills) the Green Room closet. The old entertainment center is moved out, and a new console holds all necessary equipment. New speakers have been recessed into the ceiling, and the old ones moved to the Fox Room.

alaHouse is wired for sound.

On the work front, I've applied for another position (in my same company) and this one I passionately want. I've had one interview (twenty-two questions!) and there's to be another tomorrow.

I don't know how many applied, but I feel like my first interview went well, and I have high hopes. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I work my way through the hiring process. The wheels turn slowly, so be patient for news.


Copyright 2014 Michelle Hakala
http://www.winebird.com/

ISS Residents

     

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

“I looked and looked but I didn't see God."
--Yuri Gagarin (first human to enter space)

NASA Television will provide extensive coverage of the Sept. 25 launch from Kazakhstan of three crew members of Expedition 41/42, as they begin their planned six-hour journey to the International Space Station.

Barry "Butch" Wilmore of NASA and Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 4:25 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25 (2:25 a.m. Friday, Sept. 26, in Baikonur). Serova will become the fourth Russian woman to fly in space and the first Russian woman to live and work on the station.

Elena Serova

Wilmore, Samokutyaev and Serova will remain aboard the station until mid-March 2015.

Yesterday I watched the fifth episode (I think it was) of The Roosevelts, which ended as Hitler was invading Poland in 1939, the year in which I was born. From now on, the remaining episodes will depict the nation and the world as it existed in my generation.

_____

Did You Know . . .?

In 1983 Marvel published a comic book called Spider Ham featuring Peter Porker.

_____

HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1973, in a highly publicized "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match, top women's player Billie Jean King, 29, beat Bobby Riggs, 55, a former No. 1 ranked men's player. Riggs, a self-proclaimed male chauvinist, had boasted that women were inferior, that they couldn't handle the pressure of the game and that even at his age he could beat any female player. The match was a huge media event, witnessed in person by over 30,000 spectators at the Houston Astrodome and by another 50 million TV viewers worldwide.  Legendary sportscaster Howard Cosell called the match, in which King beat Riggs 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. King's achievement not only helped legitimize women's professional tennis and female athletes, but it was seen as a victory for women's rights in general.

_____

WORDS FOR TODAY

catamount
noun
any of various medium-sized felines, such as the puma or lynx
[short for cat of the mountain]

tatamount
adjective
equivalent in seriousness to; virtually the same as.

_____

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Gary Michael Cole

(born September 20, 1956)

Gary Cole is an American television, film actor and voice artist. On television, Cole had starring roles in the series Midnight Caller, American Gothic, and Crusade. On film, Cole had supporting roles in The Brady Bunch Movie, Office Space, Dodgeball, and Talladega Nights.

Sophia Loren

(born September 20, 1934)

Sophia Loren is an international film star and Italy's most renowned and honored actress.

Anne Meara

(born September 20, 1929)

Anne Meara is an American actress and comedian. She and Jerry Stiller were a prominent 1960s comedy team, appearing as Stiller and Meara, and are the parents of actor and comedian Ben and actress Amy Stiller.

Kristen Johnston

(born September 20, 1967)

Kristen Johnston is an American stage, film, and television actress. She is most famous for her role as Sally Solomon in the television series 3rd Rock from the Sun. She also starred as Wilma Flintstone in The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas. She stars as Holly Franklin in the sitcom The Exes.

__________

"Having to read footnotes resembles having to go downstairs to answer the door while in the midst of making love."
--Noël Coward

NASA TV

This Is Who I Am

     

When Does Childhood End?

     

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

"No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader."
--Robert Frost

Below is a short excerpt from Nerd Nite Ann Arbor, an advertised event that was presented last night at the Ann Arbor District Library. The reason this is included in my blog should become self-evident as soon as you read the excerpt, which is the next paragraph.

Dr. Tim Chambers -- who works on science education, both locally as a teacher, and with organizations like NASA -- fills us in on exoplanet research. Astronomers have found thousands of planets beyond our solar system -- what might we learn about and from their discoveries? And what’s still unknown?

Dr. Tim Chambers, is, of course, my eldest grandson.

You can read more about Tim and Nerd Nite Ann Arbor at:

http://annarbor.nerdnite.com/

_____

The Death of Adulthood in American Culture is recent article in the magazine section of The New York Times that presents the concept: Adulthood as we have known it has become conceptually untenable.

All MEN who are observant enough and who can think for themselves will immediately see the trueness in the article's message.

All WOMEN who are observant enough and who can think for themselves will see it as ridiculous and hate the article's message.

. . . in my opinion.

_____

Tonight I will be heading out to the scrub land to watch over Eva and her domain. This will be a long stay away from home; I will remain in residence at the large house for three full weeks while the owners are enjoying a well-earned vacation, touring as much of Europe as possible.

I will try to keep the blog filled with interesting news during this interlude.

_____

Did You Know . . .?

A recent study shows that people who sit for prolonged periods can help prevent serious health problems by taking a five-minute walk once an hour.

_____

HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1995 The Washington Post published a 35,000-word manifesto written by the Unabomber, who since the late 1970s had eluded authorities while carrying out a series of bombings across the United States that killed 3 people and injured another 23. After reading the manifesto, David Kaczynski realized the writing style was similar to that of his brother, Theodore Kaczynski, and notified the F.B.I. On April 3, 1996, Ted Kaczynski was arrested at his isolated cabin near Lincoln, Montana, where investigators found evidence linking him to the Unabomber crimes. Kaczynski pled guilty and received four life sentences without the possibility of parole. He is serving his sentence at the supermax federal prison in Florence, Colorado.

_____

WORD FOR TODAY

trepanning
verb
1. Using a  saw-like instrument to remove circular sections of bone.
2. (Surgery)  removing a circular section of bone from the skull.

Trepanning, or making a burr hole, is a surgical intervention in which a hole is drilled or scraped into the human skull, exposing the dura mater to treat health problems related to intracranial diseases.

_____

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Adam West

(born September 19, 1928)

Adam West is an American actor. After six decades in television, he is perhaps best known for the title role in the 1960s ABC series Batman and its theatrical feature film.

Joan Lunden

(born September 19, 1950)

Joan Lunden is an American journalist, author and television host. She was the co-host of ABC's Good Morning America (GMA) from 1980-97, and has authored eight books.

David Keith McCallum, Jr.

(born 19 September 1933)

David McCallum is a Scottish actor. He is best known for his roles as Illya Kuryakin, a Russian-born secret agent, in the television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964-68), as interdimensional operative Steel in Sapphire & Steel, and for his current role as NCIS Medical Examiner, Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard in the series NCIS.

Lesley Lawson

(born September 19, 1949)

Twiggy, is an English model. In the mid-1960s she became a prominent British teenage model of swinging sixties London. Twiggy was initially known for her thin build (thus her nickname) and her androgynous look.

__________

"If you would tell me the heart of a man, tell me not what he reads, but what he rereads."
--François Mauriac

NASA TV

This Is Who I Am

     

Dead Presidents And Space

     

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

"I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book."
--Groucho Marx

PBS is featuring a Ken Burns documentary titled The Roosevelts: An Intimate History that chronicles the lives of Theodore, Franklin, and Eleanor Roosevelt for more than a century, from Theodore’s birth in 1858 to Eleanor’s death in 1962.

I thought I would have to miss it because it is being presented so late each night, but then I discovered that each episode is being repeated the next day at 1:00 in the afternoon. So far, I have viewed each of the first three two-hour episodes at that earlier time. I intend to watch all of them,the complete seven-part, fourteen hour film, even though I have to admit that I find them slow-moving, repetitious, and somewhat boring.

And... I tend to agree with Henry Ford, when he said, "History is more or less bunk."


NASA

U.S. astronauts once again will travel to and from the International Space Station from the United States on American spacecraft under groundbreaking contracts NASA announced Tuesday. The agency unveiled its selection of Boeing and SpaceX to transport U.S. crews to and from the space station using their CST-100 and Crew Dragon spacecraft, respectively, with a goal of ending the nation’s sole reliance on Russia in 2017.

More about Launch America

_____

Did You Know . . .?

If you laugh when you get tickled you are actually experiencing a form of panic.

_____

HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1959 Serial killer Harvey Glatman, known in the media as The Lonely Hearts Killer, was executed in a California gas chamber for murdering three young women in Los Angeles.

Glatman was arrested and confessed to the three murders, seeming to delight in recounting his sadistic crimes. His trial lasted a mere three days before he was sent off to San Quentin to die. Resisting all appeals to save his life, Glatman even wrote to the appeals board to say, "I only want to die."

_____

WORD FOR TODAY

degust
verb
1. to taste, especially with care or relish; savour
2. taste (something) carefully, so as to appreciate it fully.

Degustation is a culinary term meaning a careful, appreciative tasting of various foods and focusing on the gustatory system, the senses, high culinary art and good company. Degustation is more likely to involve sampling small portions of all of a chef's signature dishes in one sitting.

_____

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Frankie Avalon

(born September 18, 1940)

Frankie Avalon is an American actor, singer, playwright, and former teen idol.

Robert Blake

(born September 18, 1933)

Robert Blake is an American actor having starring roles in the film In Cold Blood and the U.S. television series Baretta.

Frederic Willard

(born September 18, 1939)

Fred Willard is an American actor known for his roles in This Is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration, and the Anchorman films. He is an alumnus of The Second City and is known for his recurring role on the TV series Everybody Loves Raymond as Robert Barone's father-in-law, Hank MacDougall.

Jada Koren Pinkett Smith

(born September 18, 1971)

Jada Pinkett Smith is an American actress, singer-songwriter, and businesswoman. She began her career in 1990, when she made a guest appearance in the short-lived sitcom True Colors. She starred in A Different World, produced by Bill Cosby, and she featured opposite Eddie Murphy in The Nutty Professor (1996). She starred in dramatic films such as Menace II Society and Set It Off. She has appeared in more than 20 films in a variety of genres, including Scream 2, Ali, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Madagascar, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, and Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted.

__________

"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers."
--Charles William Eliot

NASA TV

This Is Who I Am