Drinking Alcoholic Beverages Is Self Abuse

     

Tucson Weather Today

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The Center For Disease Control And Prevention reports that binge drinking is the most common pattern of excessive alcohol use in the United States.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines binge drinking as a pattern of drinking that brings a person’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08 grams percent or above. This typically happens when men consume 5 or more drinks, and when women consume 4 or more drinks, in about 2 hours.

Strangely enough, most people who binge drink are not alcohol dependent.

More at the CDC Fact Sheet


In my younger years, from age 16 and into my twenties I drank heavily, indulging in binge drinking and late-night partying to a startling excess, then tapering off after I married and we had children. My last glass of beer was served to me in 1983 at an outdoor cafe on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, and my last drink of alcohol of any kind (it was a Screwdriver) was also in the 1980s, the day before my daughter was married -- at the bar of the motel where we were staying in Rome NY.

That was around thirty years ago.

(Then I quit smoking in 1985, April 12 at twelve noon.)

(And I don't chase after women, either.)

(Still enjoy looking, though.)

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Did You Know . . .?

Although college students commonly binge drink, 70% of binge drinking episodes involve adults age 26 years and older

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1783, following the signing of the Treaty of Paris, General George Washington resigned as commander in chief of the Continental Army and retired to his home at Mount Vernon, Virginia.

In his departing speech, Washington said: "Having now finished the work assigned to me, I retire from the great theatre of action; and bidding an affectionate farewell to this august body, under whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my commission, and take any leave of all the employments of public life."

General Washington's respite proved extremely brief. He was unanimously elected to the first of two terms as president of the United States in 1788.

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WORD FOR TODAY

alcoholism
noun
-  an addiction to the consumption of alcoholic liquor or the mental illness and compulsive behavior resulting from alcohol dependency.

Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing. It is medically considered a disease, specifically an addictive illness.
--Wikipedia

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

José Greco

(Dec 23, 1918 - Dec 31, 2000)

José Greco was a flamenco dancer and choreographer. He made his professional dancing debut in 1937 at the Hippodrome Theatre in Manhattan. In 1949, he started the José Greco Dance Company, with which he toured extensively. He also appeared in a number of films, including Sombrero (1953), Around the World in 80 Days (1956), Holiday for Lovers (1959), Ship of Fools (1965), and The Proud and the Damned (1972).

Jacqueline Bracamontes van Hoorde

(born December 23, 1979)

Jacqeline Brqacamontes is a Mexican actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder who won Nuestra Belleza México 2001 and represented her country at Miss Universe 2002 .

Isabella Castillo Díaz

(born 23 December 1994)

Isabella Castillo is a singer and actress born in Havana, Cuba. Her best known role is that of Graciela "Grachi" Alonso, main character of the Nickelodeon Latin America's series Grachi. Castillo has released several songs from the soundtrack of Grachi, sung alongside other members of the cast such as Sol Rodríguez, Kimberly Dos Ramos, Andrés Mercado, Maria Gabriela de Faria, Lance Dos Ramos and Willy Martin.

Joan Severance

(born December 23, 1958)

Joan Severance is an American actress and former fashion model. She made her debut in a small role in the first Lethal Weapon film in 1987. She usually takes the femme fatale roles in lower budget horror and murder-mystery movies, most notably Lake Consequence (1993), Criminal Passion (1994) and Payback (1995).

She was featured alongside Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder in the 1989 comedy See No Evil, Hear No Evil, and as Hulk Hogan's love interest, Samantha N. Moore, in the wrestling film No Holds Barred (1989). She had leading roles in Roger Corman's Black Scorpion (1995) (she later starred in and co-produced a sequel, Black Scorpion II: Aftershock (1997)), and The Last Seduction II (1999).

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Two great European narcotics, alcohol and Christianity.
--Friedrich Nietzsche

NASA TV

This Is Who I Am

   

Motorcycles, Etc.

     

Tucson Weather Today


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Since I have no interest in riding motorcycles, I am not conversant with the Arizona laws regarding riding them, such as the wearing of helmets and  other such safety apparel. But as I was walking toward the Fry's Market yesterday I observed a motorcycle that turned  just a few feet in front of me into the  market's entrance road. It was being piloted by a beefy young woman dressed in shorts, a t-shirt, and flip-flops, with no helmet, goggles, or anything like that.

True, she handled the bike with an appearance of professional skill, but I couldn't help wondering if the motor vehicle laws in Arizona wee actually as lax as all that or if perhaps she simply did not pay attention to laws.

I do not intend to look up the laws, though,because I really don't care all that much.


I eat a lot of fish. And I am pretty sure it is good for me. I like it, so I eat it. Strangely enough, one of the more popular kinds of fish seems to be Talapia. But when I first tasted it I found that I did not care much for its fatty flavor. It reminded me of the taste of carp, which I ate when I was just a kid because it was so easy to catch in the river near my home. But it was my least favorite. Talapia was better than the oil soaked carp, but not by a whole lot.

Imagine my surprise when I read an article in Science Daily that began: "Farm-raised tilapia, one of the most highly consumed fish in America, has very low levels of beneficial omega-3 fatty acids and, perhaps worse, very high levels of omega-6 fatty acids, according to new research from Wake Forest University School of Medicine."

The researchers say the combination could be a potentially dangerous food source for some patients with heart disease, arthritis, asthma and other allergic and auto-immune diseases that are particularly vulnerable to an "exaggerated inflammatory response." Inflammation is known to cause damage to blood vessels, the heart, lung and joint tissues, skin, and the digestive tract.

More about Talapia

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On this day In New York City, George Washington, the great military leader of the American Revolution, was inaugurated as the first president of the United States.

More about the inauguration


And on April 30 in 1803, representatives of the United States and Napoleonic France conclude negotiations for the Louisiana Purchase, a massive land sale that doubles the size of the young American republic.


Also, on this day, April 30 in 1945, holed up in a bunker under his headquarters in Berlin, Adolf Hitler committed suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule and shooting himself in the head. Soon after, Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allied forces, ending Hitler's dreams of a "1,000-year" Reich.

Details and video

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WORD FOR TODAY

grandiose
adjective
-  Impressive or magnificent in appearance or style, esp. pretentiously so.
-  Excessively grand or ambitious.
synonyms
grand - magnificent - stately - pompous

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS


Willie Hugh Nelson
(born April 30, 1933)

Willie Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger (1975) and Stardust (1978), made Nelson one of the most recognized artists in country music.

Nelson wrote his first song at age seven and joined his first band at ten. During high school, he toured locally with the Bohemian Polka as their lead singer and guitar player. After graduating from high school, in 1950, he joined the Air Force but was later discharged due to back problems. After his return, Nelson attended Baylor University for two years but dropped out because he was succeeding in music.

During this time, he worked as a disc jockey in Texas radio stations and a singer in honky tonks. Nelson moved to Vancouver, Washington, where he wrote "Family Bible" and recorded the song "Lumberjack" in 1956. In 1960, he signed a publishing contract with Pamper Music which allowed him to join Ray Price's band as a bassist. During that time, he wrote songs that would become country standards, including "Funny How Time Slips Away", "Hello Walls", "Pretty Paper", and "Crazy". In 1962, he recorded his first album, And Then I Wrote. Due to this success, Nelson signed in 1964 with RCA Victor and joined the Grand Ole Opry the following year. After mid-chart hits in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, Nelson retired in 1972 and moved to Austin, Texas. The rise of the popularity of hippie music in Austin motivated Nelson to return from retirement, performing frequently at the Armadillo World Headquarters.

In 1973, after signing with Atlantic Records, Nelson turned to outlaw country, including albums such as Shotgun Willie and Phases and Stages. In 1975, he switched to Columbia Records, where he recorded the critically acclaimed album, Red Headed Stranger. The same year, he recorded another outlaw country album, Wanted! The Outlaws, along with Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser.

During the mid-1980s, while creating hit albums like Honeysuckle Rose and recording hit songs like "On the Road Again", "To All the Girls I've Loved Before", and "Pancho & Lefty", he joined the country supergroup The Highwaymen, along with fellow singers Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson. In 1990 Nelson's assets were seized by the Internal Revenue Service, which claimed that he owed US $32,000,000. It was later discovered that his accountants, Price Waterhouse, did not pay Nelson's taxes for years. The difficulty of paying his outstanding debt was aggravated by weak investments he had made during the 1980s. In 1991, Nelson released The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories?; by 1993, the profits of the double album, destined to the IRS, and the auction of Nelson's assets cleared his debt.

During the 1990s and 2000s, Nelson continued touring extensively, and released albums every year. Reviews ranged from positive to mixed. He explored genres such as reggae, blues, jazz, and folk. Nelson made his first movie appearance in the 1979 film The Electric Horseman, followed by other appearances in movies and on television.

Kirsten Caroline Dunst
(born April 30, 1982)

Kirsten Dunst is an American actress, singer and model. She made her film debut in Oedipus Wrecks, a short film directed by Woody Allen for the anthology New York Stories (1989). At the age of 12, Dunst gained widespread recognition playing the role of vampire Claudia in Interview with the Vampire (1994), a performance for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. She appeared in Little Women the same year and in Jumanji the following year to further acclaim. After supporting roles in the television series ER (1996) and films such as Wag the Dog (1997), Small Soldiers (1998) and The Virgin Suicides (1999), Dunst transitioned into romantic comedies and comedy dramas, starring in Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999), Bring It On (2000), Get Over It and Crazy/Beautiful (both 2001).

Dunst achieved international fame as a result of her portrayal of Mary Jane Watson in the Spider-Man trilogy (2002–07). Since then her films have included the romantic comedy Wimbledon (2004), the romantic science fiction Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and Cameron Crowe's tragicomedy Elizabethtown (2005). She played the title role in Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (2006) and starred in the comedy How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008). She won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival and the Saturn Award for Best Actress for her performance in Lars von Trier's Melancholia (2011).

John Mark "Johnny" Galecki 

(born April 30, 1975)

Johnny Galecki is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as David Healy in the ABC sitcom Roseanne, Rusty Griswold in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and Leonard Hofstadter in the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory.

Kunal Nayyar
(born April 30, 1981)

Kunal Nayyar is a British Indian actor best known for his role as Rajesh Koothrappali on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory and Gupta in Ice Age: Continental Drift.


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The ode lives upon the ideal, the epic upon the grandiose, the drama upon the real.
--Victor Hugo

Weather, History, And More

    
Tucson Weather Today

 

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The Sunday  morning TV News shows were just as boring and biased today as always. But I watched two of them anyway.

The third one I usually watch on CBS was replaced with a

Superbowl Special

 

Not being much of a sports fan, I was going to skip the game. But circumstances intervened and I watched it after all. And enjoyed it.

Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans

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While walking West on Speedway Boulevard yesterday I noticed that one of the apartment complexes had a small but nice display of flowers at the East entrance.

Not Bad For Early February

 

Tucson, AZ

 

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HISTORICAL CLIP

On this day in 1789, 69 members of Congress cast their ballots to elect George Washington the first president of the United States.

 

As the former leader of the Continental Army and chairman of the Continental Congress, Washington possessed the necessary credentials for the presidency, if not the enthusiasm. After months of appearing to sidestep, and even outright rejecting the idea of assuming the presidency, Washington reluctantly accepted Congress' decision. Runner-up John Adams became Washington's vice president.

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WORD FOR TODAY

weather
Noun
The state of the atmosphere at a place and time as regards heat, cloudiness, dryness, sunshine, wind, rain, etc.
Verb
Wear away or change the appearance or texture of (something) by long exposure to the atmosphere -- example: "his skin was weathered almost black".

The National Weather Service website can probably tell you all you want to know about weather.

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

 

Charles Lindbergh

 

Born: Feb. 4, 1902
Died Aug 26, 1974

Charles Augustus Lindbergh, nicknamed Lucky Lindy, was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.

As a 25-year-old U.S. Air Mail pilot, Lindbergh emerged suddenly from virtual obscurity to instantaneous world fame as the result of his Orteig Prize-winning solo non-stop flight on May 20–21, 1927, made from Roosevelt Field located in Garden City on New York's Long Island to Le Bourget Field in Paris, France, a distance of nearly 3,600 statute miles, in the single-seat, single-engine purpose built Ryan monoplane Spirit of St. Louis. Lindbergh, a U.S. Army Air Corps Reserve officer, was also awarded the nation's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his historic exploit.

David Brenner

 

Born Feb. 4, 1945
Age:  67 years old

David Brenner is an American stand up comedian, actor, author, and filmmaker. Prior to beginning his stand up career, he wrote, produced, and directed over a hundred made-for-TV documentaries,
which garnered him many awards, including an Emmy. He is also the author of five books.

 

Rosa Parks

 

Born Feb. 4, 1913
Died Oct 24, 2005

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called "the first lady of civil rights", and "the mother of the freedom movement".

On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver James F. Blake's order that she give up her seat in the colored section to a white passenger, after the white section was filled.

Parks' act of defiance and the Montgomery Bus Boycott became important symbols of the modern Civil Rights Movement. She became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation.

Dan Quayle

 

Born Feb. 4, 1947
Age   65 years old

James Danforth "Dan" Quayle served as the 44th Vice President of the United States, serving with President George H. W. Bush (1989–1993). He served as a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from the state of Indiana.

Quayle was born in Indianapolis but spent most of his childhood living in Arizona. He married Marilyn Tucker in 1972 and obtained his J.D. from Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in 1974. He practiced law in Huntington, Indiana with his wife before being elected to the United States Congress in 1976, aged 29. In 1980, Quayle was elected to the Senate.

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"Too bad that all the people that know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair."
--George Burns