It seems very anticlimactic for a holiday. The skies are gray with a thick marine-layer of fog. If it doesn't clear by tonight, the fireworks will appear as just pink fog. Having a BBQ today and everyone will be sitting outside with their sweaters on.
I still want to know what happens if BP declares bankruptcy. I can't imagine them not doing so, and how will Obama's gubmint react ?
In the ultimate case of stolen identities, how many more spies are living quietly in the US with someone else's identity, perhaps a dead person ? It would seem that a scan and correlation of records via computer would drum up some extra cases for evaluation....
Some thoughts on Independence Day by Ben Stein.
Everyone have a great day....
IF AIRLINES SOLD PAINT . . . Customer: Hi. How much is your paint?
Clerk: Well, sir, that all depends on quite a lot of things.
Customer: Can you give me a guess? Is there an average price?
Clerk: Our lowest price is $12 a gallon, and we have 60 different
prices up to $200 a gallon.
Customer: What's the difference in the paint?
Clerk: Oh, there isn't any difference; it's all the same paint.
Customer: Well, then I'd like some of that $12 paint.
Clerk: When do you intend to use the paint?
Customer: I want to paint tomorrow. It's my day off.
Clerk: Sir, the paint for tomorrow is the $200 paint.
Customer: When would I have to paint to get the $12 paint?
Clerk: You would have to start very late at night in about 3
weeks. But you will have to agree to start painting before Friday
of that week and continue painting until at least Sunday.
Customer: You've got to be *&%^#@* kidding!
Clerk: I'll check and see if we have any paint available.
Customer: You have shelves FULL of paint! I can see it!
Clerk: But it doesn't mean that we have paint available. We sell
only a certain number of gallons on any given weekend. Oh, and by
the way, the price per gallon just went to $16. We don't have any
more $12 paint.
Customer: The price went up as we were talking?
Clerk: Yes, sir. We change the prices and rules hundreds of times
a day, and since you haven't actually walked out of the store
with your paint yet, we just decided to change. I suggest you
purchase your paint as soon as possible. How many gallons do you
want?
Customer: Well, maybe five gallons. Make that six, so I'll have
enough.
Clerk: Oh no, sir, you can't do that. If you buy paint and don't
use it, there are penalties and possible confiscation of the
paint you already have.
Customer: WHAT?
Clerk: We can sell enough paint to do your kitchen, bathroom,
hall and north bedroom, but if you stop painting before you do
the bedroom, you will lose your remaining gallons of paint.
Customer: What does it matter whether I use all the paint? I
already paid you for it!
Clerk: We make plans based upon the idea that all our paint is
used, every drop. If you don't, it causes us all sorts of
problems.
Customer: This is crazy!! I suppose something terrible happens if
I don't keep painting until after Saturday night!
Clerk: Oh yes! Every gallon you bought automatically becomes the
$200 paint.
Customer: But what are all these, "Paint on sale from $10 a
liter" signs?
Clerk: Well that's for our budget paint. It only comes in half-
gallons. One $5 half-gallon will do half a room. The second half-
gallon to complete the room is $20. None of the cans have labels,
some are empty and there are no refunds, even on the empty cans.
Customer: To hell with this! I'll buy what I need somewhere else!
Clerk: I don't think so, sir. You may be able to buy paint for
your bathroom and bedrooms, and your kitchen and dining room from
someone else, but you won't be able to paint your connecting hall
and stairway from anyone but us. And I should point out, sir,
that if you paint in only one direction, it will be $300 a
gallon.
Customer: I thought your most expensive paint was $200!
Clerk: That's if you paint around the room to the point at which
you started. A hallway is different.
Customer: And if I buy $200 paint for the hall, but only paint in
one direction, you'll confiscate the remaining paint.
Clerk: No, we'll charge you an extra use fee plus the difference
on your next gallon of paint. But I believe you're getting it
now, sir.
Customer: You're insane!
Clerk: Thanks for painting with United.
Older Than Dirt Quiz: Count all the ones that you remember not the ones you were told about! Ratings at the bottom.
1. Blackjack chewing gum
2. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water
3. Candy cigarettes
4. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles
5. Coffee shops or diners with tableside juke boxes
6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers
7. Party lines
8. Newsreels before the movie
9. P.F. Flyers
10. Butch wax
11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix (OLive-6933)
12. Peashooters
13. Howdy Doody
14. 45 RPM records
15. S&H Green Stamps
16 Hi-fi's
17. Metal ice trays with lever
18. Mimeograph paper
19 Blue flashbulb
20. Packards
21 Roller skate keys
22. Cork popguns
23. Drive-ins
24. Studebakers
25. Wash tub wringers
If you remembered 0-5 = You're still young
If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older
If you remembered 11-15 = Don't tell your age,
If you remembered 16-25 = You're older than dirt!
I might be older than dirt but those memories are the best part of my life.
AS PROMISED: "The lighter side..." and free erudite opinions (and whines and gripes, that may not be politically correct), hyperboles and advice (on current events as well as topics for the digerati), and even some temporary(?) insanities too (daily risibility exercises)!... And the Picture-Of-The-Week:
Picoftheweek
Waaaaaaaay too many to count...
My Statement
"Let me emphatically say that I am not anti-Facebook (Fleecebook), anti-smart phone, anti-Microsoft, anti-Apple, anti-Google or anti-Internet. I do believe, though, that the consumer is being ripped off of his privacy, identity and purchase history. We are being herded into a Facebook corner where what we "Like" and where we go physically and on the net will be scrutinized and sold numerous times to actually corrode and erode our culture while tempting us only with convenience, high tech and flashing video screens. The unsuspecting consumers need to be aware..." - Gary Lapman
Quote of Note
“If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.”-W.C. Fields
"For the strength of the Wolf is in the Pack, and the strength of the Pack is in the Wolf." - Rudyard Kipling
"For the strength of the Wolf is in the Pack, and the strength of the Pack is in the Wolf." - Rudyard Kipling
“Fame is vapor, popularity an accident, riches take wing, but only character endures.” - Matthew McConaughey
"In order to keep a true perspective of one's importance, everyone should have a dog that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him"
"Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason" - Jerry Seinfeld
"Fleecebook is free, you (and your identity) is the product!" - Gary Lapman
"Christmas is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we're here for something else besides ourselves." - Eric Sevareid
"'Smart' phones are only smart for the cell phone providers!" - Gary Lapman
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." -- Charles Babbage (1791-1871)
“Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity.” -Albert Einstein
"Technology creates the illusion of companionship without the intimacy of friendship." - unknown
"No worry, there's an app for that..." - Gary Lapman
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Almost There...
Way too much shopping today for tomorrow's bash. I'm ready to lay back and put my feet up.
We get away with naming our baby just about anything we want (i.e. "Dweezil" or "LaShimba"), but in some countries the gubmint is telling you what you can and can't name your baby: (see Baby Dumpling ). It seems like a small freedom for new parents to make their baby PAY FOR THEIR WHOLE LIFE by giving them an unreasonable moniker.
We went to see "Knight and Day" tonight. I would give it a B-. Lots of action, but a few loose ends that make you wonder how they could leave that information out...
Stump and Mahtha
So it's time for the annual Skowhegan Fair again, and Stumpy and Martha are having their same old fight as they drive down from Bangor. We get away with naming our baby just about anything we want (i.e. "Dweezil" or "LaShimba"), but in some countries the gubmint is telling you what you can and can't name your baby: (see Baby Dumpling ). It seems like a small freedom for new parents to make their baby PAY FOR THEIR WHOLE LIFE by giving them an unreasonable moniker.
We went to see "Knight and Day" tonight. I would give it a B-. Lots of action, but a few loose ends that make you wonder how they could leave that information out...
Stump and Mahtha
"Mahtha, we ain't gettin an younga', and by gawd I'm gonna ride that airplane ride this yeah." Says Stumpy.
Martha replies, "Stumpy, that airplane ride costs ten dollahs. And ten dollahs is ten dollahs."
Stumpy says "By gawd I don't care!"
"Ten dollahs is ten dollahs..."
Stumpy, undeterred, drives right down to the airfield, where the pilot hears their arguing, "TEN DOLLAHS IS TEN DOLLAHS!"
He walks over and says "Folks, I tell you what. I'll give you the ride for FREE; but no talking... NOT a SOUND!! It's yours for free."
Stumpy and Martha agree, strap in, and the pilot proceeds to loop-d-loop, bank turn, climb, and dive at full throttle.
As he comes in to land he looks at Stumpy in the rearview, "THAT was incredible, all that and not a word from either of you!"
Stumps unbuckling his seatbelt, says, "Well, I ahlmost said somethin' when Mahtha fell out, but ten dollahs is ten dollahs..."
"In my lifetime, we've gone from Eisenhower to George W. Bush. We've gone from John F. Kennedy to Al Gore. If this is evolution, I believe that in 12 years, we'll be voting for plants." - Lewis Black
"A house is just a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get more stuff." - George Carlin
You would be a redneck if:
You need one more hole punched in your card to get a freebie at the House of Tattoos.
You need an estimate from your barber before you get a haircut.
The biggest fashion risk you take is which plaid you'll wear to the 4-H Fair.
You have flowers planted in a bathroom appliance in your front yard.
Your wife weighs more then your refrigerator.
You move your refrigerator and the grass underneath it has turned yellow.
You mow your lawn and find a car.
You can spit without opening your mouth.
Going to the bathroom in the middle of the night involves putting on shoes and a jacket and grabbing a flashlight.
You go Christmas shopping for your mom, sister, and girlfriend, and you only need to buy one gift.
Taking a dip has nothing to do with water.
There are more than ten lawsuits currently pending against your dog.
You take a fishing pole to Sea World.
The hood and one door are a different color from the rest of your car.
You've ever filled your deer tag on the golf course.
You've ever shot somebody over a mall parking space.
Santa Claus refuses to let your kids sit in his lap.
Your toilet paper has page numbers on it.
You think mud rasslin' should be an Olympic sport.
The receptionist checks the rat traps at your place of business.
More than one living relative is named after a Southern Civil War general.
You think the stock market has a fence around it.
You think the O.J. trial was the big Sunkist and Minutemaid taste test.
You've ever lost a loved one to kudzu.
Your boat has not left the driveway in 15 years.
Your front porch collapses and kills more than three dogs.
Your coffee table used to be a telephone cable spool.
You keep a can of Raid on the kitchen table.
You've ever used a toilet seat as a picture frame.
Your home has more miles on it than your car.
Your Christmas tree is still up in February.
You've ever been arrested for loitering.
You think that potted meat on a saltine is an hors d'ouvre.
There is a stuffed possum anywhere in your house.
You hammer bottle caps into the frame of your front door to make it look nice.
You've ever shot anyone for looking at you.
You own a homemade fur coat.
Your wife can climb a tree faster than your cat.
Your momma has "ammo" on her Christmas list.
You've totaled every car you've ever owned.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Finally...
A much better day today. Friday's are like that, especially just before a three day weekend. The week has been "much ado about nothing" and it wasn't until Friday afternoon that a clear path was revealed.
The weekend plans are coming together, with preparations tomorrow for a celebratory get together on Sunday followed by the fireworks at Girsch Park. Monday shall be a day of rest and relaxation (fat chance).
Awarded Worst First Sentence of a Novel
The Bulwer-Lytton award is given annually for the worst first sentence of a novel. Contestants craft deliberately bad opening lines. Molly Ringle took the 2010 prize with this gem: The weekend plans are coming together, with preparations tomorrow for a celebratory get together on Sunday followed by the fireworks at Girsch Park. Monday shall be a day of rest and relaxation (fat chance).
Awarded Worst First Sentence of a Novel
"For the first month of Ricardo and Felicity’s affair, they greeted one another at every stolen rendezvous with a kiss — a lengthy, ravenous kiss, Ricardo lapping and sucking at Felicity’s mouth as if she were a giant cage-mounted water bottle and he were the world’s thirstiest gerbil."
POEM - Illegal Immigrants

I cross river,
poor and broke,

Take bus,
see employment folk.

Nice man
treat me good in there,
Say I need
go see Welfare.

Welfare say,
'You come no more,

We send cash
right to your door.'

Welfare checks,
they make you wealthy,

Medicaid
it keep you healthy!

By and by,
Got plenty money,

Thanks to you, TAXPAYER dummy.


Write to friends
in motherland,

Tell them
'come, fast as you can'

They come in buses
and Ford trucks,

I buy big house
with welfare bucks.

They come here,
we live together,







More welfare checks,
it gets better!

Fourteen families,
they moving in,

But neighbor's patience
wearing thin.

Finally, white guy
moves away,
.
.
I buy his house,
and then I say,

'Find more aliens
for house to rent.'

In my yard
I put a tent.

Send for family
they just trash,
...
But they, too,
draw welfare cash!

Everything is
very good,
Soon we own
whole neighborhood.

We have hobby
it called breeding,

Welfare pay
for baby feeding.

Kids need dentist?
Wife need pills?

We get free!
We got no bills!

TAXPAYER crazy!
He pay all year,
To keep welfare
running here.

We think America
darn good place!
Too darn good
for white man race.
If they no like us,
they can go,
Got lots of room
in Mexico.
I cross river,
poor and broke,
Take bus,
see employment folk.
Nice man
treat me good in there,
Say I need
go see Welfare.
Welfare say,
'You come no more,
We send cash
right to your door.'
Welfare checks,
they make you wealthy,
Medicaid
it keep you healthy!
By and by,
Got plenty money,
Thanks to you, TAXPAYER dummy.
Write to friends
in motherland,
Tell them
'come, fast as you can'
They come in buses
and Ford trucks,
I buy big house
with welfare bucks.
They come here,
we live together,
More welfare checks,
it gets better!
Fourteen families,
they moving in,
But neighbor's patience
wearing thin.
Finally, white guy
moves away,
I buy his house,
and then I say,
'Find more aliens
for house to rent.'
In my yard
I put a tent.
Send for family
they just trash,
But they, too,
draw welfare cash!
Everything is
very good,
Soon we own
whole neighborhood.
We have hobby
it called breeding,
Welfare pay
for baby feeding.
Kids need dentist?
Wife need pills?
We get free!
We got no bills!
TAXPAYER crazy!
He pay all year,
To keep welfare
running here.
We think America
darn good place!
Too darn good
for white man race.
If they no like us,
they can go,
Got lots of room
in Mexico.
A husband and wife are on the 9th green when suddenly she collapses from a heart attack!
"Help me dear," she groans to her husband. The husband calls 911 on his cell phone,
talks for a few minutes,
picks up his putter and lines up his putt.
His wife raises her head off the green and stares at him.
"I'm dying here and you're putting?"
"Don't worry dear," says the husband calmly,
"they found a doctor on the second hole and
he's coming to help you.
"Well, how long will it take for him to get here?"
she asks feebly.
"No time at all," says her husband.
"Everybody's already agreed to let him play through."
"Help me dear," she groans to her husband. The husband calls 911 on his cell phone,
talks for a few minutes,
picks up his putter and lines up his putt.
His wife raises her head off the green and stares at him.
"I'm dying here and you're putting?"
"Don't worry dear," says the husband calmly,
"they found a doctor on the second hole and
he's coming to help you.
"Well, how long will it take for him to get here?"
she asks feebly.
"No time at all," says her husband.
"Everybody's already agreed to let him play through."
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