The FRAKKING NEWS

First off, I am not ignoring your comments. HaloScan has lost the EDIT button in its MANAGE COMMENTS feature. As soon as the get it repaired, I'll respond.

Its HOT! here in the central valley. We should top out around 108 today. The 5-day forecast calls for triple digits all week. Between 105-112. Just 100 miles to the west, in San Francisco, the temp is about 75. What a contrast.

I shouldn't complain though. Forecasters in the UK are saying that there is a good chance that summer is over in that part of the world with little sunshine forecast for the remainder of the year.

Some people just need a reality wake-up call. Leaving a construction unguarded over the 3-day weekend resulted in a 500 gallon tank of diesel fuel disappearing. Thats not something you could just pull up in a pickup truck and cart away. Obviously an inside job.

An architectural firm has released a report of the 10 best cities by design in the USA. El Lay beat "Frisco" and "Shy Town".

The ITV has a program called The Jeremy Kyle Show (we are probably distantly related). Like most major broadcast networks, the ITV have "Standards & Practices" personnel assigned to bleep offensive words from live broadcasts. But what is the poor button-pusher to do when the offending guest has such a strong Scottish brough that the censor couldn't understand what was being said?

I swear that some people are born with absolutely no brains.

And the annual running of the morons in Pamplona, Spain has already claimed nine victims. Does god mass produce these people?

Just because you're a big ol' aeroplane, hogging the sky, doesn't mean that someone won't punch you in the nose for being a bully.


"Let's all be careful out there!"

July 7TH

***

Today is Monday, July 7, the 189th day of 2008. There are 177 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 7, 1865, four people were hanged in Washington, D.C., for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth to assassinate President Lincoln.

On this date:

• In 1807, Napoleon I of France and Czar Alexander I of Russia signed a treaty at Tilsit ending war between their empires.
• In 1896, the Democratic national convention opened in Chicago.
• In 1898, the United States annexed Hawaii.
• In 1908, the Democratic National Convention opened in Denver.
• In 1930, construction began on Boulder Dam (later Hoover Dam).
• In 1948, six female reservists became the first women to be sworn into the regular U.S. Navy.
• In 1958, President Eisenhower signed the Alaska Statehood Act, which went into effect in January 1959.
• In 1981, President Reagan announced he was nominating Arizona Judge Sandra Day O'Connor to become the first female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
• In 1983, 11-year-old Samantha Smith of Manchester, Maine, left for a visit to the Soviet Union at the personal invitation of Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov.
• In 2005, suicide terrorist bombings in three Underground stations and a double-decker bus killed 52 victims and four bombers in the worst attack on London since World War II.

Ten years ago:

• A jury in Santa Monica, Calif., convicted Mikhail Markhasev of murdering Ennis Cosby, Bill Cosby's only son, during a roadside robbery. (Markhasev was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.)
• Imprisoned Nigerian opposition leader Moshood Abiola died of what the government said was a heart attack.
• The American League defeated the National League 13-8 in baseball's All-Star Game, played in Denver.

Five years ago:

• A chunk of foam insulation fired at shuttle wing parts blew open a gaping 16-inch hole, yielding what one member of the Columbia investigation team said was the "smoking gun" proving what brought down the spaceship.
• NASA launched its second Mars rover.
• A federal judge approved a settlement fining WorldCom $750 million for its $11 billion accounting scandal.
• Golfer Hilary Lunke won the U.S. Women's Open.

One year ago:

• A truck bomb devastated the public market in Armili, Iraq, killing at least 115 people.
• A 24-hour music marathon spanning seven continents reached the Western Hemisphere with rappers, rockers and country stars taking the stage at Live Earth concerts to fight climate change.
• Venus Williams claimed her fourth Wimbledon title with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Marion Bartoli.

Today's Birthdays:

• Blues musician Pinetop Perkins is 95.
• Musician-conductor Doc Severinsen is 81.
• Country singer Charlie Louvin is 81.
• Historian-author David McCullough is 75.
• Rock star Ringo Starr is 68.
• Singer-musician Warren Entner (The Grass Roots) is 64.
• Rock musician Jim Rodford is 63.
• Actor Joe Spano is 62.
• Pop singer David Hodo (The Village People) is 61.
• Country singer Linda Williams is 61.
• Actress Shelley Duvall is 59.
• Actress Roz Ryan is 57.
• Actor Billy Campbell is 49.
• Rock musician Mark White (Spin Doctors) is 46.
• Singer-songwriter Vonda Shepard is 45.
• Actor-comedian Jim Gaffigan is 42.
• Rhythm-and-blues musician Ricky Kinchen (Mint Condition) is 42.
• Actress Jorja Fox is 40.
• Actress Cree Summer is 39.
• Actress Kirsten Vangsness is 36.
• Actor Troy Garity is 35.
• Actor Hamish Linklater is 32.
• Olympic silver and bronze medal figure skater Michelle Kwan is 28.
• Rapper Cassidy is 26.
• Country singer Gabbie Nolen is 26.

Thought for Today:

"There is no escape — man drags man down, or man lifts man up."
Attributed to Booker T. Washington, American educator and author (1856-1915).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 8-189

"Let's all be careful out there!"

ITS MONDAY

AIN'T THAT A BITCH


Thats the hard part of a 3-day weekend. Going back to work. Did y'all have a great holiday? I sure hope so.

Scanning all my news sources has been frustrating. The political rhetoric is discouraging. No discussion of issues, just each side trying to fault the other for their basic differences. Name calling without the four letter expletives. Right now I think I'll vote "NO" for President, or as the ballot reads in Nevada 'NONE OF THE ABOVE".

If anybody really cares, Dubya turned 62 yesterday. Naw, I didn't think so. It was also the birthday of the Republican Party, which was formed in Jackson, Michigan in 1854.

Kent Couch made a successful cluster balloon trip from Bend, OR to Cambridge, ID yesterday. His third attempt.

I see that some folks are upset because Britney Spears didn't receive an Emmy nomination for her brief (almost cameo) role on an American TV situation comedy show. I guess she didn't deserve the Trailer Park Knickerless Slut Tramp Mother-of-the-Year trophy. Was that being too harsh? I didn't think so.

If you plan on shipping illegal drugs via FedEx, you might want to be sure you have the correct address on the label. But since FedEx has drug sniffing dogs at their Memphis hub, it probably not even a good idea to use them.

Thanks for stopping in. Hopefully something exciting will occur later today. See you next time.

"Let's all be careful out there!"