An era ends
Even with four computers and the most advanced spreadsheet program available, I could not begin to calculate just how many commercials I have watched for the various dealerships that Cal Worthington owned. He died at the age of 92.
What we tend to forget is just how his ads got started, or how big his business was at one point. The reason he started the whole "my dog Spot" campaign was because another salesman doing TV ads for a different dealership featured a dog named "Storm", a German Shepard prominently in the commercials he did. Cal countered. He spent millions on advertising and was probably the best known car pitchman in history.
At one point he owned 29 car dealerships and at the time of his death, still owned three. One in Long Beach and the others outside the greater L.A. area. He also owned shopping malls, an advertising agency (his car dealership was its only client and it was spending over $10 million per year at one point).
The story was told, although I have no proof, that he was still making commercials for his beloved dealership right up until his death. What I was told was that he had a "green screen" set up at his home so he could record the ads and they could put the dealership in behind him.
RIP, Cal. You knew how to sell a product.
* * *
Russia has proposed that the chemical weapons stockpile of Syria be given over to "international control" and the Obama Administration has reluctantly admitted this idea has some merit. It could also be a stall tactic, designed to do nothing more than give Syria more time to disperse their stores of chemical munitions.
A few things are clear at this point. Syria did use chemical weapons in violation of a ban on doing so. President Obama should have either taken military action immediately to destroy any of Syria's remaining chemical weapons that could be located with a high degree of certainty; or take no such action and use other weapons like economic sanctions to try to get Syria to foreswear future use of such weapons. The American public is overwhelmingly opposed to the use of military force at this point.
I believe at this point President Obama has to bow to the will of the people. We live in a representative democracy and if the overwhelming majority of the people will not swallow the notion of a military response as warranted, then it would be a bad idea. Why are the Republican "chickenhawks" so eager to support the President on this?
Simple. It's a win-win for them no matter what happens. If the President prevails and launches a strike, they're seen as willing to be bi-partisan, tough like their constituencies want them to be and it didn't cost them any political capital. Better still, those Democrats who support the President in his effort to launch a strike will probably take a hit at the ballot box come the mid-term elections.
If no strike is launched, the voters who put those Republicans in office won't have a change of heart over it. They lose nothing.
* * *
I'm almost always a fan of everything about the care I get at the VA and how they handle things, even if I do complain about long waits and a few other minor things. However, I've been trying since Thursday morning to get some answers about the procedure I'm scheduled for just one week from tomorrow.
I can't find out if they plan to keep me overnight or not. The written instructions they gave me outlined what to do if they plan to keep me and what to do if they don't. I can't drive myself because I'm going to receive general anesthesia, so whether I stay overnight or not, they won't let me drive myself home. Or so their materials say.
Now if I am going to be there overnight and I would be able to drive myself home afterwards, no problem. I'm even willing to catch a taxi or the bus to get home the next day. But until they get back to me, I can't plan.
Tomorrow I have two appointments at the VA. I plan to go up to that particular office afterward and get my answers in person. I'm the first to admit I struggle to keep my cool when I'm involved in a competition. With stuff like this, I'm usually cool, calm and collected. But I may lose it tomorrow if I get more of the bureaucratic two-step avoidance dance.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Is "feederism" or "feedism" if you prefer a sexual fetish that you feel is as harmless as those involved in it claim? It refers to people (almost exclusively women) who derive sexual excitement from being fed and becoming fat. Or is it wrong because the rest of society bears a higher average cost of healthcare? Then what about the rights of those who smoke? I have no answers to this one.
Everyone who feels sorry for Jamie McCourt for losing her bid to extort some of the windfall profits her now ex-husband got from the sale of the Dodgers, raise their hand. I didn't think many hands would go up.
Is anyone surprised that as smoking pot becomes legalized, usage is going up?
What fool in Iowa is handing out gun permits to blind people? Oh wait, they're just complying with the Americans With Disabilities Act. Maybe it is time to amend that law so we aren't giving people the right to carry guns when they wouldn't be able to see who/what they were shooting at.
When a man in Washington, D.C. loses his home (worth $197,000) over an unpaid property tax bill of $134, it's time to fix the system that allowed that to happen. That system allowed the investor who bought his lien to tack on charges of $4,999 (legal fees and expenses because the foreclosure had been put in motion) even after the debt plus interest was paid in full.
Should I be worried that the open wound on my leg is oozing more and more with each passing day?
* * *
This Date In History:
9 – Arminius' alliance of six Germanic tribes ambushes and annihilates three Roman legions of Publius Quinctilius Varus in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.
337 – Constantine II, Constantius II, and Constans I succeed their father Constantine I as co-emperors. The Roman Empire is divided between the three Augusti.
533 – A Byzantine army of 15,000 men under Belisarius lands at Caput Vada (modern Tunisia) and marches to Carthage.
1000 – Battle of Svolder, Viking Age.
1087 – William II becomes King of England, taking the title King William II, (reigned until 1100).
1141 – Yelü Dashi, the Liao Dynasty general who founded the Qara-Khitai, defeats the Seljuq and Kara-Khanid forces at the Battle of Qatwan.
1379 – Treaty of Neuberg, splitting the Austrian Habsburg lands between the Habsburg Dukes Albert III and Leopold III.
1493 – Battle of Krbava field, a decisive defeat of Croats in Croatian struggle against the invasion by the Ottoman Empire.
1513 – James IV of Scotland is defeated and dies in the Battle of Flodden Field, ending Scotland's involvement in the War of the League of Cambrai.
1543 – Mary Stuart, at nine months old, is crowned "Queen of Scots" in the central Scottish town of Stirling.
1561 – The ultimately unsuccessful Colloquy at Poissy opens in an effort to reconcile French Catholics and Protestants.
1739 – Stono Rebellion, the largest slave uprising in Britain's mainland North American colonies prior to the American Revolution, erupts near Charleston, South Carolina.
1776 – The Continental Congress officially names its new union of sovereign states the United States.
1791 – Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, is named after President George Washington.
1801 – Alexander I of Russia confirms the privileges of Baltic provinces.
1839 – John Herschel takes the first glass plate photograph.
1850 – California is admitted as the thirty-first U.S. state.
1850 – The Compromise of 1850 transfers a third of Texas's claimed territory (now parts of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Wyoming) to federal control in return for the U.S. federal government assuming $10 million of Texas's pre-annexation debt.
1855 – Crimean War: The Siege of Sevastopol comes to an end when Russian forces abandon the city.
1863 – American Civil War: The Union Army enters Chattanooga, Tennessee.
1886 – The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works is finalized.
1914 – World War I: The creation of the Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade, the first fully mechanized unit in the British Army.
1922 – The Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922 effectively ends with Turkish victory over the Greeks in Smyrna.
1923 – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, founds the Republican People's Party.
1924 – Hanapepe Massacre occurs on Kauai, Hawaii.
1926 – In the United States the National Broadcasting Company is formed.
1939 – World War II: The Battle of Hel begins, the longest-defended pocket of Polish Army resistance during the German invasion of Poland.
1939 – Burmese national hero U Ottama dies in prison after a hunger strike to protest Britain's colonial government.
1940 – George Stibitz pioneers the first remote operation of a computer.
1942 – World War II: A Japanese floatplane drops incendiary bombs on Oregon.
1943 – World War II: The Allies land at Salerno and Taranto, Italy.
1944 – World War II: The Fatherland Front takes power in Bulgaria through a military coup in the capital and armed rebellion in the country. A new pro-Soviet government is established.
1945 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Empire of Japan formally surrenders to China.
1947 – First case of a computer bug being found: a moth lodges in a relay of a Harvard Mark II computer at Harvard University.
1948 – Kim Il-sung declares the establishment of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
1956 – Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time.
1965 – The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development is established.
1965 – Hurricane Betsy makes its second landfall near New Orleans, Louisiana, leaving 76 dead and $1.42 billion ($10–12 billion in 2005 dollars) in damages, becoming the first hurricane to top $1 billion in unadjusted damages.
1966 – The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act is signed into law by U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson.
1969 – Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 DC-9 collides in flight with a Piper PA-28 and crashes near Fairland, Indiana.
1969 – In Canada, the Official Languages Act comes into force, making the French language equal to the English language throughout the Federal government.
1970 – A British airliner is hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and flown to Dawson's Field in Jordan.
1971 – The four-day Attica Prison riot begins, which eventually results in 39 dead, most killed by state troopers retaking the prison.
1972 – In Kentucky's Mammoth Cave National Park, a Cave Research Foundation exploration and mapping team discovers a link between the Mammoth and Flint Ridge cave systems, making it the longest known cave passageway in the world.
1990 – 1990 Batticaloa massacre, massacre of 184 minority Tamil civilians by Sri Lankan Army in the eastern Batticaloa District of Sri Lanka.
1991 – Tajikstan declares independence from the Soviet Union.
1993 – The Palestine Liberation Organization officially recognizes Israel as a legitimate state.
Famous Folks Born On This Date:
Aurelian
Cardinal Richelieu
Ashikaga Yoshitane
Leo Tolstoy
Max Reinhardt
Frank Chance (Tinkers to Evans to Chance)
Alf Landon (loved his quote about the 1936 presidential election after he was trounced by FDR. Supposedly a friend said "looks like the people have spoken" and Landon responded "yes, but they didn't have to say it so loudly")
Colonel Sanders
Arthur Freed
Frankie Frisch
Cliff Robertson
Sylvia Miles
Chaim Topol
Otis Redding
Pamela Des Barres
Tom Wopat
Hugh Grant
Michelle Johnson
Adam Sandler
Goran Visnjic
Michael Buble
Michelle Williams
Movie quotes today come from "But I'm a Cheerleader" which Michelle Williams was in:
Megan: Cheers are supposed to be simple, make people feel good.
Graham: Cheers make girls do stupid cartwheels. Orgasms make people feel good.
#2
Jan: Everyone thinks I'm this big dyke because I wear baggy pants and play sports and I'm not pretty like other girls. But all I really want is a big, fat weiner up my...
Andre: Amen, sister.
#3
Joel: You're more than just a sissy. You're nice, and clean, and smart... and sexy and firm and luscious and...
Andre: Excuse me! The last thing I need right now is some fruit who's just proved himself straight tellin' my ass how sexy I am!
What we tend to forget is just how his ads got started, or how big his business was at one point. The reason he started the whole "my dog Spot" campaign was because another salesman doing TV ads for a different dealership featured a dog named "Storm", a German Shepard prominently in the commercials he did. Cal countered. He spent millions on advertising and was probably the best known car pitchman in history.
At one point he owned 29 car dealerships and at the time of his death, still owned three. One in Long Beach and the others outside the greater L.A. area. He also owned shopping malls, an advertising agency (his car dealership was its only client and it was spending over $10 million per year at one point).
The story was told, although I have no proof, that he was still making commercials for his beloved dealership right up until his death. What I was told was that he had a "green screen" set up at his home so he could record the ads and they could put the dealership in behind him.
RIP, Cal. You knew how to sell a product.
* * *
Russia has proposed that the chemical weapons stockpile of Syria be given over to "international control" and the Obama Administration has reluctantly admitted this idea has some merit. It could also be a stall tactic, designed to do nothing more than give Syria more time to disperse their stores of chemical munitions.
A few things are clear at this point. Syria did use chemical weapons in violation of a ban on doing so. President Obama should have either taken military action immediately to destroy any of Syria's remaining chemical weapons that could be located with a high degree of certainty; or take no such action and use other weapons like economic sanctions to try to get Syria to foreswear future use of such weapons. The American public is overwhelmingly opposed to the use of military force at this point.
I believe at this point President Obama has to bow to the will of the people. We live in a representative democracy and if the overwhelming majority of the people will not swallow the notion of a military response as warranted, then it would be a bad idea. Why are the Republican "chickenhawks" so eager to support the President on this?
Simple. It's a win-win for them no matter what happens. If the President prevails and launches a strike, they're seen as willing to be bi-partisan, tough like their constituencies want them to be and it didn't cost them any political capital. Better still, those Democrats who support the President in his effort to launch a strike will probably take a hit at the ballot box come the mid-term elections.
If no strike is launched, the voters who put those Republicans in office won't have a change of heart over it. They lose nothing.
* * *
I'm almost always a fan of everything about the care I get at the VA and how they handle things, even if I do complain about long waits and a few other minor things. However, I've been trying since Thursday morning to get some answers about the procedure I'm scheduled for just one week from tomorrow.
I can't find out if they plan to keep me overnight or not. The written instructions they gave me outlined what to do if they plan to keep me and what to do if they don't. I can't drive myself because I'm going to receive general anesthesia, so whether I stay overnight or not, they won't let me drive myself home. Or so their materials say.
Now if I am going to be there overnight and I would be able to drive myself home afterwards, no problem. I'm even willing to catch a taxi or the bus to get home the next day. But until they get back to me, I can't plan.
Tomorrow I have two appointments at the VA. I plan to go up to that particular office afterward and get my answers in person. I'm the first to admit I struggle to keep my cool when I'm involved in a competition. With stuff like this, I'm usually cool, calm and collected. But I may lose it tomorrow if I get more of the bureaucratic two-step avoidance dance.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Is "feederism" or "feedism" if you prefer a sexual fetish that you feel is as harmless as those involved in it claim? It refers to people (almost exclusively women) who derive sexual excitement from being fed and becoming fat. Or is it wrong because the rest of society bears a higher average cost of healthcare? Then what about the rights of those who smoke? I have no answers to this one.
Everyone who feels sorry for Jamie McCourt for losing her bid to extort some of the windfall profits her now ex-husband got from the sale of the Dodgers, raise their hand. I didn't think many hands would go up.
Is anyone surprised that as smoking pot becomes legalized, usage is going up?
What fool in Iowa is handing out gun permits to blind people? Oh wait, they're just complying with the Americans With Disabilities Act. Maybe it is time to amend that law so we aren't giving people the right to carry guns when they wouldn't be able to see who/what they were shooting at.
When a man in Washington, D.C. loses his home (worth $197,000) over an unpaid property tax bill of $134, it's time to fix the system that allowed that to happen. That system allowed the investor who bought his lien to tack on charges of $4,999 (legal fees and expenses because the foreclosure had been put in motion) even after the debt plus interest was paid in full.
Should I be worried that the open wound on my leg is oozing more and more with each passing day?
* * *
This Date In History:
9 – Arminius' alliance of six Germanic tribes ambushes and annihilates three Roman legions of Publius Quinctilius Varus in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.
337 – Constantine II, Constantius II, and Constans I succeed their father Constantine I as co-emperors. The Roman Empire is divided between the three Augusti.
533 – A Byzantine army of 15,000 men under Belisarius lands at Caput Vada (modern Tunisia) and marches to Carthage.
1000 – Battle of Svolder, Viking Age.
1087 – William II becomes King of England, taking the title King William II, (reigned until 1100).
1141 – Yelü Dashi, the Liao Dynasty general who founded the Qara-Khitai, defeats the Seljuq and Kara-Khanid forces at the Battle of Qatwan.
1379 – Treaty of Neuberg, splitting the Austrian Habsburg lands between the Habsburg Dukes Albert III and Leopold III.
1493 – Battle of Krbava field, a decisive defeat of Croats in Croatian struggle against the invasion by the Ottoman Empire.
1513 – James IV of Scotland is defeated and dies in the Battle of Flodden Field, ending Scotland's involvement in the War of the League of Cambrai.
1543 – Mary Stuart, at nine months old, is crowned "Queen of Scots" in the central Scottish town of Stirling.
1561 – The ultimately unsuccessful Colloquy at Poissy opens in an effort to reconcile French Catholics and Protestants.
1739 – Stono Rebellion, the largest slave uprising in Britain's mainland North American colonies prior to the American Revolution, erupts near Charleston, South Carolina.
1776 – The Continental Congress officially names its new union of sovereign states the United States.
1791 – Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, is named after President George Washington.
1801 – Alexander I of Russia confirms the privileges of Baltic provinces.
1839 – John Herschel takes the first glass plate photograph.
1850 – California is admitted as the thirty-first U.S. state.
1850 – The Compromise of 1850 transfers a third of Texas's claimed territory (now parts of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Wyoming) to federal control in return for the U.S. federal government assuming $10 million of Texas's pre-annexation debt.
1855 – Crimean War: The Siege of Sevastopol comes to an end when Russian forces abandon the city.
1863 – American Civil War: The Union Army enters Chattanooga, Tennessee.
1886 – The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works is finalized.
1914 – World War I: The creation of the Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade, the first fully mechanized unit in the British Army.
1922 – The Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922 effectively ends with Turkish victory over the Greeks in Smyrna.
1923 – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, founds the Republican People's Party.
1924 – Hanapepe Massacre occurs on Kauai, Hawaii.
1926 – In the United States the National Broadcasting Company is formed.
1939 – World War II: The Battle of Hel begins, the longest-defended pocket of Polish Army resistance during the German invasion of Poland.
1939 – Burmese national hero U Ottama dies in prison after a hunger strike to protest Britain's colonial government.
1940 – George Stibitz pioneers the first remote operation of a computer.
1942 – World War II: A Japanese floatplane drops incendiary bombs on Oregon.
1943 – World War II: The Allies land at Salerno and Taranto, Italy.
1944 – World War II: The Fatherland Front takes power in Bulgaria through a military coup in the capital and armed rebellion in the country. A new pro-Soviet government is established.
1945 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Empire of Japan formally surrenders to China.
1947 – First case of a computer bug being found: a moth lodges in a relay of a Harvard Mark II computer at Harvard University.
1948 – Kim Il-sung declares the establishment of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
1956 – Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time.
1965 – The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development is established.
1965 – Hurricane Betsy makes its second landfall near New Orleans, Louisiana, leaving 76 dead and $1.42 billion ($10–12 billion in 2005 dollars) in damages, becoming the first hurricane to top $1 billion in unadjusted damages.
1966 – The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act is signed into law by U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson.
1969 – Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 DC-9 collides in flight with a Piper PA-28 and crashes near Fairland, Indiana.
1969 – In Canada, the Official Languages Act comes into force, making the French language equal to the English language throughout the Federal government.
1970 – A British airliner is hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and flown to Dawson's Field in Jordan.
1971 – The four-day Attica Prison riot begins, which eventually results in 39 dead, most killed by state troopers retaking the prison.
1972 – In Kentucky's Mammoth Cave National Park, a Cave Research Foundation exploration and mapping team discovers a link between the Mammoth and Flint Ridge cave systems, making it the longest known cave passageway in the world.
1990 – 1990 Batticaloa massacre, massacre of 184 minority Tamil civilians by Sri Lankan Army in the eastern Batticaloa District of Sri Lanka.
1991 – Tajikstan declares independence from the Soviet Union.
1993 – The Palestine Liberation Organization officially recognizes Israel as a legitimate state.
Famous Folks Born On This Date:
Aurelian
Cardinal Richelieu
Ashikaga Yoshitane
Leo Tolstoy
Max Reinhardt
Frank Chance (Tinkers to Evans to Chance)
Alf Landon (loved his quote about the 1936 presidential election after he was trounced by FDR. Supposedly a friend said "looks like the people have spoken" and Landon responded "yes, but they didn't have to say it so loudly")
Colonel Sanders
Arthur Freed
Frankie Frisch
Cliff Robertson
Sylvia Miles
Chaim Topol
Otis Redding
Pamela Des Barres
Tom Wopat
Hugh Grant
Michelle Johnson
Adam Sandler
Goran Visnjic
Michael Buble
Michelle Williams
Movie quotes today come from "But I'm a Cheerleader" which Michelle Williams was in:
Megan: Cheers are supposed to be simple, make people feel good.
Graham: Cheers make girls do stupid cartwheels. Orgasms make people feel good.
#2
Jan: Everyone thinks I'm this big dyke because I wear baggy pants and play sports and I'm not pretty like other girls. But all I really want is a big, fat weiner up my...
Andre: Amen, sister.
#3
Joel: You're more than just a sissy. You're nice, and clean, and smart... and sexy and firm and luscious and...
Andre: Excuse me! The last thing I need right now is some fruit who's just proved himself straight tellin' my ass how sexy I am!
posted by me at 7:16 PM
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