Nuke 'em Back To The Stone Age

     

Tucson Weather Today

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175 pounds

I always go back to Harry Truman: Should we drop an atomic bomb to save 100,000 lives? That's a hell of a decision to make. Did he make that decision by himself? No, he had advisers.
--Lee Iacocca

Decisions.

The older I get the more difficult I find it to make choices. Little things. Tiny, seemingly insignificant selections (Hunts, Heinz, or store brand catsup) from the grocery shelves become overwhelming options to be lengthily considered. One has a better flavor, another is 20 cents cheaper, the other is almost a dollar less.

Adding a dollop of catsup to a serving of fried fish makes it tastier, but it also causes me to want more than one. Maybe I would be better off not buying any. I like the taste of breaded crunchy-fried fish without enhancement well enough. And catsup adds unnecessary calories.

But I like it even better with a splash of catsup.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.


It is getting harder for me to walk my usual two miles each day. After the walk my legs are so tired they hurt, and the pain lasts for several hours. Especially if I do not lie down for a while after I get home, take a possible nap for an hour or so. And I need nothing from the grocery, which is at the halfway point of my walk. My cupboard, my refrigerator, and my freezer are full.

Maybe it is better to skip walking today... let my old muscles rebuild a bit.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.


Is it so mysterious that I feel John McCain, well into his seventies, is a poor choice to continue as a decision making U.S. Senator?

I think not.

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Did You Know . . .?

The first animal launched into orbit, Laika, was found as a stray wandering the streets of Moscow. Soviet scientists assumed that such animals had already learned to endure conditions of extreme cold and hunger.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1945 President Harry Truman learned the full details of the Manhattan Project, in which scientists were attempting to create the first atomic bomb. The information thrust upon Truman a momentous decision: whether or not to use the world's first weapon of mass destruction.

The war with Japan dragged on and it looked to many as if the Japanese would never surrender. On July 16, the team of scientists at Alamogordo, New Mexico, research station successfully test  exploded the first atomic bomb.

The first Japan-directed bomb was exploded over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and a second was dropped on Nagasaki on August 8. The Japanese quickly surrendered.

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WORD FOR TODAY

bombastic
adjective
1.  Ostentatiously lofty in style,
2.  High-sounding but with little meaning.
3.  (of speech or writing) high-flown; inflated; pretentious.

To be bombastic is to be full of hot air -- like a politician who makes grand promises and doesn't deliver.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Barbra Joan Streisand

(born April 24, 1942)

Barbara Streisand is an American singer-songwriter, author, actress, writer, film producer, and director. She is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award. She is the best selling female artist of all time, with more than 71.5 million albums in the United States and 245 million records sold worldwide. 

After beginning a successful recording career in the 1960s, by the end of the decade, Streisand ventured into film starring in the critically acclaimed Funny Girl. Other notable films include The Owl and the Pussycat, The Way We Were and A Star Is Born. 

Shirley MacLaine

(born April 24, 1934),

Shirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author. She has won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy twice, for her roles in The Apartment and Irma la Douce, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama twice for Terms of Endearment and Madame Sousatzka. 

Jill Dorothy Ireland

(Apr 24, 1936 - May 18, 1990)

Jill Ireland was an English actress, best known for her many films with her second husband, Charles Bronson.

Melinda Patrice Clarke

(born April 24, 1969)

Melinda Clarke is an American actress who has primarily worked in television. Clarke is known for playing Faith Taylor on the daytime drama Days of Our Lives, the manipulative and cunning Julie Cooper on The O.C., and the professional dominatrix Lady Heather on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. From 2010 to 2013, she portrayed Amanda on the action-thriller television series Nikita. She was added as a recurring character on Vegas in 2013.

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I do not believe that civilization will be wiped out in a war fought with the atomic bomb. Perhaps two-thirds of the people of the earth will be killed.
--Albert Einstein

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This Is Who I Am

   

Charity Is Willingly Given From The Heart

     

Tucson Weather Today

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There is a constant barrage of charities soliciting money by way of radio, television, the Internet, and via the telephone. Some of them actually pass on some or all of the donated funds to the group they represent. One must be vigilant in checking out the validity of the solicitor to whom you send money.

Sometimes a donation to a small organization goes further, does more good, and brings more satisfaction to the donor than a gift to the larger solicitors.

I first saw the advertisement for Youth On Their Own (YOTO) while walking past a sign  at a city bus stop here in Tucson. Youth On Their Own supports the high school graduation and continued success of homeless youth by providing financial assistance, basic human needs and guidance.

Homeless youth ages 13-21 need school supplies, too! Did you know there are nearly 4,000 homeless youth in Tucson and Pima County? Arizona ranks number 1 in the country for percentage of kids dropping out of high school.

Last year, YOTO served over 1100 homeless youth and 254 seniors celebrated a 96% graduation rate. This represents a 60% increase in the number of students we served from the year before. We fully expect to serve the same number of students – perhaps more – in this upcoming school year. Help the homeless youth in our community graduate by participating in YOTO’s Back to School Challenge.

Youth On Their Own

1660 N. Alvernon Way

Tucson, AZ 85712

520.293.1136

This is a worthy organization doing worthwhile work.

Read more at the YOTO website


If I won the lottery I'd start a charity that helped little family hardware stores, cobblers, and fruit shops open in city centers.
--Alexei Sayle

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I ran across a website called The Awl and found an article written by Kenneth Goldsmith that at first appeared to be ridiculous, foolish, worthless. I read it anyway. Now I don't know if I have discovered a surprisingly profound piece of wisdom, or if I have once again been sucked into the ever-present maw of modern-day scam-art.

Here is the first paragraph:

I am a dumb writer, perhaps one of the dumbest that's ever lived. Whenever I have an idea, I question myself whether it is sufficiently dumb. I ask myself, is it possible that this, in any way, could be considered smart? If the answer is no, I proceed. I don't write anything new or original. I copy pre-existing texts and move information from one place to another. A child could do what I do, but wouldn't dare to for fear of being called stupid.

This piece is supposedly written by a writer about writing. I wonder . . .

Kenneth Goldsmith is an American poet. He is the founding editor of UbuWeb, teaches Poetics and Poetic Practice at the University of Pennsylvania, and is a Senior Editor of PennSound.  In 2013, he was appointed the Museum of Modern Art's first Poet Laureate.

Being Dumb by Kenneth Goldsmith

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TRIVIA

The king of hearts on playing cards is the only king without a moustache.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day, August 6 in 1945, at 8:16 a.m. Japanese time, an American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, dropped the world's first atomic bomb, over the city of Hiroshima.

Approximately 80,000 people were killed as a direct result of the blast, and another 35,000 were injured. At least another 60,000 would be dead by the end of the year from the effects of the fallout.

There were 90,000 buildings in Hiroshima before the bomb was dropped; only 28,000 remained after the bombing. Of the city's 200 doctors before the explosion; only 20 were left alive or capable of working. There were 1,780 nurses before - only 150 remained who were able to tend to the sick and dying.

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WORD FOR TODAY

charity
noun
1. Provision of help or relief to the poor; alms giving.
2. Something given to help the needy; alms.
3. An institution, organization, or fund established to help the needy.
4. Benevolence or generosity toward others or toward humanity.
5. Indulgence or forbearance in judging others.

Note: After her recent unmasking as the writer behind the pseudonym Robert Gailbraith and the crime novel "The Cuckoo's Calling," author J.K. Rowling announced on her birthday (July 31, 2013) that the worldwide publishing royalties from the book will be donated to The Soldiers' Charity, a British charity that provides support for soldiers, former soldiers and their families.

I'd call that a true act of charity.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Robert Charles Durman Mitchum

(Aug. 6, 1917 - July 1, 1997)

Robert Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer. Mitchum rose to prominence for his starring roles in several major works of the film noir style, and is considered a forerunner of the anti-heroes prevalent in film during the 1950s and 1960s.

Lucille Désirée Ball

(Aug. 6, 1911 - April 26, 1989)

Lucille Ball was an American comedienne, model, film and television actress and studio executive. She was star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life with Lucy, and was one of the most popular and influential stars in the United States during her lifetime.

Andy Warhol

(Aug. 6, 1928 - Feb. 22, 1987)

Andy Warhol was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement that flourished by the 1960s.

Soleil Moon Frye

(born August 6, 1976)

Soleil Moon Frye is an American actress, director and screenwriter. Frye began her career as a child actor at the age of 2. When she was 7 years old, Frye won the role of Penelope "Punky" Brewster in the sitcom Punky Brewster. The series, which debuted on NBC in September 1984, earned consistently low ratings but the Punky character was a hit with young children. After NBC canceled the series, it was picked up for the syndication market where it aired for an additional two seasons ending in 1988.

After the series ended, Frye continued her career in guest spots on television and supporting roles in films. She attended The New School during the late 1990s, and directed her first film, Wild Horses, in 1998. In 2000, she joined the cast of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch as Roxie King, Sabrina Spellman's (Melissa Joan Hart) roommate and close friend. Frye remained with the series until its end in April 2003. She has since continued her acting career working mainly as a voice actor. Frye also voiced Aseefa in the animated series Planet Sheen.

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The charity that is a trifle to us can be precious to others.
--Homer

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This Is Who I Am