FIREFLY - OUT OF GAS (episode 08)

I have moved all my Firefly episodes to my other blog.

Just click here.

These episodes are now independent of the Hulu feed and will not continuously disappear.


"Let's all be careful out there!"

JULY 30TH

***

Today is Wednesday, July 30, the 212th day of 2008. There are 154 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On July 30, 1945, during World War II, the battle cruiser USS Indianapolis, which had just delivered components for the atomic bomb that would be dropped on Hiroshima, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine; only 316 out of some 1,200 men survived the sinking and shark-infested waters.

On this date:

• In 1619, the first representative assembly in America convened in Jamestown, Va.
• In 1729, the city of Baltimore was founded.
• In 1792, the French national anthem "La Marseillaise," by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, was first sung in Paris by troops arriving from Marseille.
• In 1864, during the Civil War, Union forces tried to take Petersburg, Va., by exploding a gunpowder-filled mine under Confederate defense lines; the attack failed.
• In 1908, the first round-the-world automobile race, which had begun in New York in February, ended in Paris with the drivers of the American car, a Thomas Flyer, declared the winners over teams from Germany and Italy.
• In 1918, poet Joyce Kilmer, a sergeant in the 165th U.S. Infantry Regiment, was killed during the Second Battle of the Marne in World War I. (Kilmer is perhaps best remembered for his poem "Trees.")
• In 1932, the Summer Olympic Games opened in Los Angeles.
• In 1942, President Roosevelt signed a bill creating a women's auxiliary agency in the Navy known as "Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service" — WAVES for short.
• In 1965, President Johnson signed into law the Medicare bill, which went into effect the following year.
• In 1975, former Teamsters union president Jimmy Hoffa disappeared in suburban Detroit — although presumed dead, his remains have never been found.

Ten years ago:

• Japan's Parliament declared Keizo Obuchi the country's next prime minister.
• "Buffalo Bob" Smith, the cowboy-suited host of "The Howdy Doody Show," died in Hendersonville, N.C., at age 80.
• A group of 13 Ohio machinists stepped forward to claim the $295.7 million Powerball jackpot. (The workers opted to take the cash option — one payment of about $161.5 million.)

Five years ago:

• In his State of the Union address, President Bush took personal responsibility for the first time for using disputed intelligence, but predicted he would be vindicated for going to war against Iraq.
• Iraq's U.S.-picked interim government named its first president: Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite Muslim from a party banned by Saddam Hussein.
• Sun Records founder Sam Phillips, who discovered Elvis Presley, died in Memphis, Tenn., at age 80.

One year ago:

• President Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, meeting at Camp David, forged a unified stand on Iraq.
• Chief U.S. Justice John Roberts was taken to a hospital after a seizure caused him to fall on a dock near his summer home in Maine.
• A second South Korean hostage was slain by the Taliban in central Afghanistan.
• Death claimed Swedish movie director Ingmar Bergman at age 87; Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni at age 94; and Hall of Fame football coach Bill Walsh at age 75.

Today's Birthdays:

• Actor Richard Johnson is 81.
• Actor Edd "Kookie" Byrnes is 75.
• Blues musician Buddy Guy is 72.
• Movie director Peter Bogdanovich is 69.
• Feminist activist Eleanor Smeal is 69.
• Former U.S. Rep. Patricia Schroeder, D-Colo., is 68.
• Singer Paul Anka is 67.
• Jazz musician David Sanborn is 63.
• California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is 61.
• Actor William Atherton is 61.
• Actor Jean Reno is 60.
• Blues singer-musician Otis Taylor is 60.
• Actor Frank Stallone is 58.
• Actor Ken Olin is 54.
• Actress Delta Burke is 52.
• Singer-songwriter Kate Bush is 50.
• Country singer Neal McCoy is 50.
• Actor Richard Burgi is 50.
• Director Richard Linklater is 48.
• Actor Laurence Fishburne is 47.
• Actress Lisa Kudrow is 45.
• Bluegrass musician Danny Roberts (The Grascals) is 45.
• Country musician Dwayne O'Brien is 44.
• Actress Vivica A. Fox is 44.
• Actor Terry Crews ("Everybody Hates Chris") is 40.
• Actor Simon Baker is 39.
• Movie director Christopher Nolan is 38.
• Actor Tom Green is 37.
• Rock musician Brad Hargreaves (Third Eye Blind) is 37.
• Actress Christine Taylor is 37
• Actor-comedian Dean Edwards is 35.
• Actress Hilary Swank is 34.
• Actress Jaime Pressly is 31.
• Actress Yvonne Strahovski (TV: "Chuck") is 26.

Thought for Today:

"The fellow who says he'll meet you halfway usually thinks he's standing on the dividing line."
O.A. Battista, Canadian-born author-scientist.

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 8-212

"Let's all be careful out there!"

BEWARE OF WATER LOGS...

THAT HAVE LEGS AND
TEETH!


I wonder if this will affect that "community spirit" everybody had when they decided to clean up the river bank? Read some of the other stories in the center column also.

In case you missed it, Alaska's Senator Ted Stevens has been indicted on 7 felony counts. Something about unreported gifts from the oil industry. Really BIG gifts. Does anyone find it unbelievable? Not me. The only thing surprising is that they were served while Dubya is still in office. The only thing I can guess is that Stevens failed to carry out his part of some deal.

You need a program to keep up with all the reclassification of celestial bodies.

Obviously I am mistaken but I could have sworn that we were supposed to destroy all our stockpiles of chemical weapons. I hope the Saudis don't find out. They might get a UN resolution to invade us and destroy our WMDs.

Remember that earthquake in China back in May? Some teacher is going to spend one year in a hard labor reeducation center for posting photos of collapsed school buildings on the web.

And foreign owned hotels in China are in deep shit if they don't allow the gov't to monitor (spy) on the internet traffic of the guests. So if it does rain in Beijing during the Olympiad, contrary to China's claims about weather management preventing that, will anyone who reports precipitation be sent for reeducation? Or will there be "technical difficulties" in the various video feeds to the world?

Sometimes news people are just plain stupid:

"There's going to be some damage, but not nearly as significant as a more significant earthquake would have caused." - Wolf Blitzer, CNN

Uh, duh!
Besides a 5.4 quake in California is only really noticed by the new-comers. Long time residents only pause long enough to prevent their latte's from spilling. And it was obviously a slow news day for CNN to give it this much coverage.


All I can say is that I want what ever it is these analysts are toking. Wanna bet they got their detailed analysis from Puff, the magic dragon.

As always, the airlines are seeing to the needs of their passengers. Move your ass. Bitch!

Plans for the North American Union, which never existed anyway, are now officially dead.
Conspiracy theorists claim this is just a disinformation plot to ease our fears.

Have a great day. Get over the hump and its downhill to the weekend.

Thanks for your time.


"Let's all be careful out there!"

FIREFLY - JAYNESTOWN (episode 07)

I have moved all my Firefly episodes to my other blog.

Just click here.

These episodes are now independent of the Hulu feed and will not continuously disappear.


"Let's all be careful out there!"

JULY 29TH

***

Today is Tuesday, July 29, the 211th day of 2008. There are 155 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• Fifty years ago, on July 29, 1958, President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which created NASA.

On this date:

• In 1588, the English attacked the Spanish Armada in the Battle of Gravelines, resulting in an English victory.
• In 1890, artist Vincent van Gogh, 37, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Auvers-sur-Oise, France.
• In 1900, Italian King Humbert I was assassinated by an anarchist; he was succeeded by his son, Victor Emmanuel III.
• In 1914, transcontinental telephone service began with the first test phone conversation between New York and San Francisco.
• In 1948, Britain's King George VI opened the Olympic Games in London.
• In 1957, the International Atomic Energy Agency was established.
• In 1957, Jack Paar made his debut as host of NBC's "Tonight Show."
• In 1967, an accidental rocket launch aboard the supercarrier USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin resulted in a fire and explosions that killed 134 servicemen.
• In 1968, the Vatican issued an encyclical in which Pope Paul VI reaffirmed the Catholic Church's opposition to artificial means of contraception.
• In 1981, Britain's Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. (However, the couple divorced in 1996.)

Ten years ago:

• President Clinton reached an agreement with Kenneth Starr to provide grand jury testimony via closed-circuit television in the Monica Lewinsky case.
• Jerome Robbins, one of modern ballet's master choreographers and one of Broadway's major innovators, died in New York at age 79.

Five years ago:

• President Bush refused to release a congressional report on possible links between Saudi Arabian officials and the Sept. 11 hijackers, saying disclosure "would help the enemy" by revealing intelligence sources and methods.
• Boston's Bill Mueller became the first player in major league history to hit grand slams from both sides of the plate in a game and connected for three homers in a 14-7 win at Texas.

One year ago:

• British Prime Minister Gordon Brown arrived at Camp David in Maryland for a private dinner as well as meetings with President Bush.
• Tens of thousands of Iraqis celebrated after Iraq beat three-time champion Saudi Arabia 1-0 to take the Asian Cup.
• Alberto Contador of Spain won the doping-scarred Tour de France.
• Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn took their place in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
• TV talk show host and newsman Tom Snyder died in San Francisco at age 71.
• French actor Michel Serrault died in Honfleur, France, at age 79.

Today's Birthdays:

• Comedian Professor Irwin Corey is 94.
• Actor Robert Horton is 84.
• Former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum-Baker, R-Kan., is 76.
• Actor Robert Fuller is 74.
• Sen. Elizabeth H. Dole, R-N.C., is 72.
• Actor David Warner is 67.
• Rock musician Neal Doughty (REO Speedwagon) is 62.
• Marilyn Tucker Quayle, wife of former Vice President Dan Quayle, is 59.
• Actor Mike Starr is 58.
• Documentary maker Ken Burns is 55.
• Style guru Tim Gunn (TV: "Project Runway") is 55.
• Rock singer-musician Geddy Lee (Rush) is 55.
• Rock singer Patti Scialfa (Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band) is 55.
• Actress Alexandra Paul is 45.
• Country singer Martina McBride is 42.
• Rock musician Chris Gorman is 41.
• Actor Rodney Allen Rippy is 40.
• Actor Wil Wheaton is 36.
• Rhythm-and-blues singer Wanya Morris (Boyz II Men) is 35.
• Actor Stephen Dorff is 35.
• Actor Josh Radnor is 34.
• Hip-hop DJ/music producer Danger Mouse is 31.
• Actress Allison Mack is 26.

Thought for Today:

"Man must rise above the Earth — to the top of the atmosphere and beyond — for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives."
Socrates, Greek philosopher (469 B.C.E.-399 B.C.E.).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 8-211

"Let's all be careful out there!"

WHEN DUBYA LEAVES OFFICE...

AMERICA WILL HAVE A $482,000,000,000 BUDGET DEFICIT

Another shining example of King Ron's "trickle down" theory of economics. The last three years of "slick Willie's" time we had budget surpluses.

And speaking of budget crisis, California's governator is going to sign an executive order today, reducing some 200,000 state employee salaries to the federal minimum wage. ($6.55 hr). This is in response to the State legislature's failure to pass a balanced budget. Which was due on July 1st.

Next time you're out on the road, keep this in mind:

• 1 in 4 of the nation's bridges need repair.

Something to ponder on while on "the super-slab", with all those overpasses, underpasses and viaducts.

Well, that news item being hinted at in yesterday's release by Google about how big the web is, was the start up of a new search engine called Cuil. Click the link and its sparseness is a hint that former Google emgineers had a hand in this. Alledgedly this one uses more sophisticated algorithms. If Cuil lives up to its rep, Google will have decent competition and MSN & Yahoo! will slip further into the graveyard of archaic and unused search engines.

He's 80 years old. A former Olympian. And was given a "stern taking to" for running up the "down" escalator. So, the British have laws against being a "contrarian"? Give me a frakkin break.

Huh?

Went to the county fair last night. I didn't get home until almost 1 am. Hence the late delivery of today's post.

Have a fantastic day. Thanks for your time.

"Let's all be careful out there!"

FIREFLY - OUR MRS. REYNOLDS (episode 06)

I have moved all my Firefly episodes to my other blog.

Just click here.

These episodes are now independent of the Hulu feed and will not continuously disappear.



"Let's all be careful out there!"

JULY 28TH

***

Today is Monday, July 28, the 210th day of 2008. There are 156 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On July 28, 1945, a U.S. Army bomber crashed into the 79th floor of New York's Empire State Building, killing 14 people.

On this date:

• In 1540, King Henry VIII's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, was executed, the same day Henry married his fifth wife, Catherine Howard.
• In 1821, Peru declared its independence from Spain.
• In 1868, the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing due process of law, was certified in effect by Secretary of State William H. Seward.
• In 1914, World War I began as Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.
• In 1928, the Olympic games opened in Amsterdam.
• In 1932, federal troops forcibly dispersed the so-called "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans who had gathered in Washington to demand money they weren't scheduled to receive until 1945.
• In 1945, the U.S. Senate ratified the United Nations Charter by a vote of 89-2.
• In 1965, President Johnson announced he was increasing the number of American troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000 "almost immediately."
• In 1977, Roy Wilkins turned over leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to Benjamin L. Hooks.
• In 2002, nine coal miners trapped in the flooded Quecreek Mine in Somerset, Pa., were rescued after 77 hours underground.

Ten years ago:

• During a day of official mourning, President Clinton praised two slain police officers at the U.S. Capitol as heroes whose sacrifice "consecrated this house of freedom."
• General Motors Corp. reached a tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers to end an almost two-month-old strike.
• Bell Atlantic and GTE announced a $52 billion merger deal that created Verizon.
• Monica Lewinsky received blanket immunity in exchange for providing "full and truthful testimony" to a grand jury investigating President Clinton.

Five years ago:

• Rebels in Liberia captured Buchanan, the country's second-largest city.

One year ago:

• Vice President Dick Cheney, with a history of heart problems, had surgery to replace an implanted device that was monitoring his heartbeat.

Today's Birthdays:

• Movie director Andrew V. McLaglen is 88.
• Actor Darryl Hickman is 77.
• The former president of Peru, Alberto Fujimori, is 70.
• Rock musician Rick Wright (Pink Floyd) is 65.
• Former Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J., is 65.
• "Garfield" creator Jim Davis is 63.
• Singer Jonathan Edwards is 62.
• Actress Linda Kelsey is 62.
• TV producer Dick Ebersol is 61.
• Actress Sally Struthers is 60.
• Actress Georgia Engel is 60.
• Rock musician Simon Kirke (Bad Company) is 59.
• Rock musician Steve Morse (Deep Purple) is 54.
• Broadcast journalist Scott Pelley is 51.
• Actor Michael Hayden is 45.
• Jazz musician-producer Delfeayo Marsalis is 43.
• Actress Elizabeth Berkley is 36.
• Singer Afroman is 34.
• Country musician Todd Anderson (Heartland) is 33.
• Rock singer Jacoby Shaddix (Papa Roach) is 32.
• Country singer Carly Goodwin is 27.
• Actor Dustin Milligan is 23.

Thought for Today:

"He who is learned is not wise; He who is wise is not learned." —
From the Tao (dow) Te Ching, the sacred book of Taoism.

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 8-210

"Let's all be careful out there!"

1,000,000,000,000

AND COUNTING

Thats how many web pages that Google indexes every single day. And there are even more that they ignore.

The first Google index of the web was done in 1998 and generated 26 million pages. In 2000 the index surpassed 1 billion. It is widely acknowledged that Google is the extensive of all the search engines and yet people are hinting that next week there is going to be some big announcement in that field.

The easiest way to explain how Google works is that it follows links from one website to another. The more incoming links that a website has the higher its status in the index. If someone had a stand alone page with no inbound or outbound links, it would be virtually invisible. Think of Google as being a roadmap of one trillion intersections on the web.

Starting in 2010, California will become the first state to ban the use of trans-fats in its 88,000 plus restaurants. The one exception will be "packaged foods".

According to an as yet unpublished report by a professor from Rice University, it could be hazardous to your family's health to have granite counter tops. Something to do with the release of radon gas, a known cancer risk factor. After all the money and effort of installing granite counters and floors, I doubt anyone is going to remove them.

Bloomberg and Gates join forces to reduce the use of tobacco:


Fires continue to consume California:


While all areas are under scrutiny, special attention is being paid to the oxygen bottles on that Qantas 747 that made an emergency descent and landing over the weekend. In fact, all of Qantas' fleet are having the O₂ canisters checked.

Jimmy Soares took a hoe,
Gave his father 40 blows.
When the job was neatly done,
He gave his mother 41.
And in a final insane fit,
He tossed them in
The cesspool pit.

Yesterday's NASCAR race at the "Brickyard" was a complete fiasco.

The Goodyear Tires being used couldn't make more than 10 laps before losing all their rubber. Did Firestone get out of the racing business?

I know NASCAR is a "good ol' boy" operation, but isn't it stupid to have only one source of rubber?


Obama does a short, modified version of 'The Grand Tour" and dominates our national news. McCain meets with the Dalai Lama and the only people who even take notice are the Chinese. Who weren't very happy.



A melee involving 200 people in most of the world would be classified as a riot. In the States, its just a minor disturbance or a brawl, at the most.

Oh, just to be official, at 8:50 pm PDT tonight, my son officially turns 40. He had a great party on Saturday night with about 75 people in attendence. Do you know how hard it is to look at someone and realize you haven't seen them for over 20 years? You brain is scrambling to rearrange faces, eyes and voices to conform (and confirm) who is before you. A lot of these "kids" I hadn't seen since they were teens and now they are grandparents. You know you are getting old when your kids, and their friends, all look middle aged.

If nothing changes, the daughter is taking me and her boys to the county fair tonight. I'll try and get some pics.

And a new week begins while another month comes to an end. Thanks for your visit and hope to see you all again real soon.


"Let's all be careful out there!"

FIREFLY - SAFE (episode 05)

I have moved all my Firefly episodes to my other blog.

Just click here.

These episodes are now independent of the Hulu feed and will not continuously disappear.


"Let's all be careful out there!"

JULY 27TH

***

Today is Sunday, July 27, the 209th day of 2008. There are 157 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:
On July 27, 1789, President Washington signed a measure establishing the Department of Foreign Affairs, forerunner of the Department of State.
On this date:

• In 1694, the Bank of England received a royal charter as a commercial institution.
• In 1794, French revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre was overthrown and placed under arrest; he was executed the following day.
• In 1861, Union Gen. George B. McClellan took command of the Army of the Potomac.
• In 1866, Cyrus W. Field finished laying out the first successful underwater telegraph cable between North America and Europe. (A previous cable in 1858 burned out after only a few weeks of use.)
• In 1953, the Korean War armistice was signed at Panmunjom, ending three years of fighting.
• In 1960, Vice President Richard M. Nixon was nominated for president at the Republican National Convention in Chicago.
• In 1967, in the wake of urban rioting, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed the Kerner Commission to assess the causes of the violence, the same day black militant H. Rap Brown said in Washington that violence was "as American as cherry pie."
• In 1974, the House Judiciary Committee voted 27-11 to adopt the first of three articles of impeachment against President Nixon, charging he had personally engaged in a course of conduct designed to obstruct justice in the Watergate case.
• In 1980, on day 267 of the Iranian hostage crisis, the deposed Shah of Iran died at a military hospital outside Cairo, Egypt, at age 60.
• In 1996, terror struck the Atlanta Olympics as a pipe bomb exploded at Centennial Olympic Park, killing one person and injuring 111. (Anti-government extremist Eric Rudolph later pleaded guilty to the bombing.)

Ten years ago:

• President Clinton held a town meeting in Albuquerque, N.M., on the future of Social Security, during which he expressed skepticism about proposals to privatize part of the Social Security trust fund.
• Monica Lewinsky spent five hours being interviewed by prosecutors in New York in a possible prelude to an immunity deal.

Five years ago:

• Comedian Bob Hope died in Toluca Lake, Calif., at age 100.
• Lance Armstrong won a record-tying fifth straight title in the Tour de France.

One year ago:

• The House sent President Bush legislation to intensify anti-terror efforts in the U.S., carrying out major recommendations of the independent 9/11 Commission.
• Former Qwest Communications chief Joe Macchio was sentenced to six years in prison for illegally selling $52 million in stock while not telling investors that his telecommunications company faced serious financial risks.
• Two Phoenix news helicopters collided and crashed while covering a police chase on live television, killing four people on board.

Today's Birthdays:

• TV producer Norman Lear is 86.
• Rhythm-and-blues singer Harvey Fuqua is 79.
• Actor Jerry Van Dyke is 77.
• Sportscaster Irv Cross is 69.
• Actor John Pleshette is 66.
• Singer Bobbie Gentry is 64.
• Actress-director Betty Thomas is 60.
• Olympic gold medal figure skater Peggy Fleming is 60.
• Actor Maury Chaykin is 59.
• Singer Maureen McGovern is 59.
• Actress Janet Eilber is 57.
• Actress Roxanne Hart is 56.
• Country musician Duncan Cameron (Sawyer Brown) is 52.
• Comedian Bill Engvall is 51.
• Jazz singer Karrin Allyson is 46.
• Country singer Stacy Dean Campbell is 41.
• Rock singer Juliana Hatfield is 41.
• Actor Julian McMahon is 40.
• Comedian Maya Rudolph is 36.
• Singer-songwriter Pete Yorn is 34.
• Actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers is 31.
• Singer Cheyenne Kimball is 18.

Thought for Today:

"Verily, when the day of judgment comes, we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done."
Thomas a Kempis, German theologian (1380-1471).

"Let's all be careful out there!"