Apologies
Sorry I haven't been able to write anything in the last 24 hours or so. I've been busy with work, doctors, and writing obituaries of actors. Funny how they seem to come in threes. I've finished two of the three obits and am taking a break from penning the third to work on my blog. In case you've been living under a rock the last few days, we've lost Peter O'Toole, Joan Fontaine and Tom Laughlin. In case you aren't sure who Laughlin was, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v325wdgoFH4&feature=player_detailpage.
The Hapkido master who trained him for that film, Bong Soo Han used to live upstairs from my siblings, mother and I on Stanford. I mention this because as you can see from that clip above, the camera shifts just before "Billy Jack" delivers that amazing kick. That is because it was one of the few stunts in the film where Han doubled for Laughlin. Nowadays, it wouldn't be nearly as noticeable when something like that is done.
Maybe that's part of the problem that has led to things like this:
Jennifer Lawrence was gorgeous before the editors of this idiotic rag photoshopped her for their cover. Look at all the changes. They didn't just alter her body shape. They elongated her fingers. They darkened her outfit. They changed her hair.
There's no need to do this. The same people who bought this issue were going to buy it with either the photoshopped photo, or the original. I'm sure Ms Lawrence didn't like seeing herself altered in this way, probably without her approval. In a film it's one thing. This is different. And it is wrong.
* * *
FISA is an acronym for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, passed originally in 1978 and amended a number of times following the 9/11 attacks. Today marked a major victory for privacy advocates opposed to the "blank check" the FISA courts have given the nation's intelligence and law enforcement agencies in terms of gathering data.
The reason this is important to know is that after years of the National Security Agency (NSA) collecting so-called "meta-data" on phone calls, a federal judge has ruled that this is almost certainly unconstitutional. The ruling, by U. S. District Judge Richard Leon contained the following:
"I cannot imagine a more 'indiscriminate' and 'arbitrary invasion' than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every citizen for purposes of querying and analyzing it without prior judicial approval. Surely, such a program infringes on 'that degree of privacy' that the Founders enshrined in the Fourth Amendment."
Judge Leon was appointed to the federal bench by President George W. Bush. Now if a Bush appointee has a problem with this, then there's a problem with this.
Many see this as vindication for Edward Snowden, who was the subject of discussion on Sunday evening's episode of "60 Minutes." The director of the NSA was interviewed on the program and said that the U. S. should consider offering amnesty to Snowden if he were to come home and assist in the efforts at damage control to deal with issues caused by his disclosure of classified information.
There is another acronym to learn. FISC. That's the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court, the legal body that operates in secret and gave the NSA the legal authority to carry out its data collection activities. The truth is that the FISC has been rubber-stamping requests from the NSA since FISA was originally passed in 1978.
If you'd like to know more about the NSA, check out the books of James Bamford, author of "The Puzzle Palace."
* * *
That old adage, "a deal is a deal" is one of the first things we learn in this life. Apparently there are people in our elected leadership who can't grasp this concept. The deal in question? The contract that members of our all-volunteer military entered into when they raised their right hands, swore (or affirmed) the oath of enlistment (or commissioning for officers) and signed on the dotted line.
They were promised that if they served the required length of time, they could retire with a retirement benefit that would be adjusted for inflation. Now the government wants to change the rules. The Cost Of Living Adjustments (COLA) for military personnel who retire now, or in the future will be reduced by one percent until the retiree reaches the age of 62, or is disabled.
That wasn't the deal when they were handed the enlistment/commissioning paperwork and signed. COLAs were the same for everyone, no matter their age. This isn't the first time the government has changed the deal, after the fact. When I enlisted in 1976, the deal was retirement pay and free medical care for life. I lost count of how many times I heard about the free medical care from my recruiter before finally signing the paperwork.
Now there is Tricare and a retiree is paying a deductible, coinsurance and monthly premiums of $26.64 for just themselves, or $79.91 per month if they have family coverage. Adding dental care is extra. They changed the deal.
Trying to balance the budget on the backs of our military personnel is just plain wrong.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
The story about Operation Cookie Drop at Travis Air Force Base was nice to see, but the author might have checked before using the terms airmen and airwomen in it. They are all airmen, just as all Army personnel are soldiers. The term airman isn't gender specific. But this is a totally forgivable error.
There's just something wrong with the concept of a gold-plated Xbox that sells for almost $10,000.
A delicious irony can be found in the selling of an Occupy Wall Street poster on the Walmart website.
The 67 year old man who scammed people out of $100 million that was supposed to go to Navy veterans got off easy with a prison sentence of only 28 years.
Alabama football coach Nick Saban threw some work in the direction of Lane Kiffin only because the two share the same agent.
Jet Chevrolet near Seattle offered a promotion they thought they'd never have to make good on, promising 12 lucky winners would each get $35,000 if the Seahawks were able to shut out the Giants. That it came to pass and they have to pay off isn't really all that interesting, but that someone at the dealership was smart enough to buy insurance against it happening is. The dealership is only out $7,000 and gets a ton of publicity. Impressive marketing.
That some states allow retailers to detain those suspected of shoplifting isn't all that bad. But that these retailers in those states can "fine" suspected shoplifters without proof of a crime is disturbing.
Do you think North Korea will keep Dennis Rodman so we don't have to hear about him in the future? No, we aren't that lucky.
I'll be shaking my head for days about the concept of someone bidding almost $100,000 for a painting by George Zimmerman.
* * *
497 BC – The first Saturnalia festival was celebrated in ancient Rome.
546 – Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoths under king Totila plunder the city, by bribing the Byzantine garrison.
920 – Romanos I Lekapenos is crowned co-emperor of the underage Constantine VII.
942 – Assassination of William I of Normandy.
1398 – Sultan Nasir-u Din Mehmud's armies in Delhi are defeated by Timur.
1538 – Pope Paul III excommunicates Henry VIII of England.
1577 – Francis Drake sails from Plymouth, England, on a secret mission to explore the Pacific coast of the Americas for Queen Elizabeth I of England.
1583 – Cologne War: Forces under Ernest of Bavaria defeat troops under Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg at the Siege of Godesberg.
1586 – Go-Yōzei becomes Emperor of Japan.
1600 – Marriage of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici.
1718 – War of the Quadruple Alliance: Great Britain declares war on Spain.
1777 – American Revolution: France formally recognizes the United States.
1790 – Discovery of the Aztec calendar stone.
1807 – Napoleonic Wars: France issues the Milan Decree, which confirms the Continental System.
1812 – War of 1812: U.S. forces attack a friendly Lenape village in the Battle of the Mississinewa.
1819 – Simón Bolívar declares the independence of Gran Colombia in Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar in Venezuela).
1835 – Great Fire of New York: Fire levels lower Manhattan.
1837 – A fire in the Winter Palace of Saint Petersburg kills 30 guards.
1862 – American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky (Grant claimed that he was not an Anti-Semite, that this order was signed by him without being read, and he repudiated it in 1868).
1865 – First performance of the Unfinished Symphony by Franz Schubert.
1892 – First issue of Vogue is published
1896 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Schenley Park Casino, which was the first multi-purpose arena with the technology to create an artificial ice surface in North America, is destroyed in a fire.
1903 – The Wright brothers make their first powered, heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
1907 – Ugyen Wangchuck is crowned first King of Bhutan
1918 – Darwin Rebellion: Up to 1,000 demonstrators march on Government House in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
1919 – Uruguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1926 – Antanas Smetona assumes power in Lithuania as the 1926 coup d'état is successful.
1927 – Indian revolutionary Rajendra Lahiri is hanged in Gonda jail, Uttar Pradesh, India, two days before the scheduled date.
1928 – Indian revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru assassinate British police officer James Saunders in Lahore, Punjab, to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai at the hands of the police. The three were executed in 1931.
1935 – First flight of the Douglas DC-3.
1938 – Otto Hahn discovers the nuclear fission of the heavy element uranium, the scientific and technological basis of nuclear energy.
1939 – World War II: Battle of the River Plate – The Admiral Graf Spee is scuttled by Captain Hans Langsdorff outside Montevideo.
1941 – World War II: Japanese forces land in Northern Borneo.
1944 – World War II: Battle of the Bulge – Malmedy massacre – American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion POWs are shot by Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe Peiper.
1947 – First flight of the Boeing B-47 Stratojet strategic bomber.
1950 – The F-86 Sabre's first mission over Korea.
1951 – The American Civil Rights Congress delivers "We Charge Genocide" to the United Nations.
1957 – The United States successfully launches the first Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
1960 – Troops loyal to Haile Selassie I in Ethiopia crush the coup that began December 13, returning power to their leader upon his return from Brazil. Haile Selassie absolves his son of any guilt.
1960 – 1960 Munich Convair 340 crash: 20 passengers and crew on board as well as 32 people on the ground are killed.
1961 – Niterói circus fire: Fire breaks out during a performance by the Gran Circus Norte-Americano in the city of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, killing more than 500.
1967 – Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt disappears while swimming near Portsea, Victoria, and is presumed drowned.
1969 – The SALT I talks begin.
1969 – Project Blue Book: The United States Air Force closes its study of UFOs.
1970 – Polish 1970 protests: In Gdynia, soldiers fire at workers emerging from trains, killing dozens.
1973 – Thirty passengers are killed in an attack by Palestinian terrorists on Rome's Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport.
1981 – American Brigadier General James L. Dozier is abducted by the Red Brigades in Verona, Italy.
1983 – Provisional IRA members detonate a car bomb at Harrods Department Store in London, England, United Kingdom. Three police officers and three civilians are killed.
1989 – The first episode of television series The Simpsons, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", airs in the United States.
1989 – Romanian Revolution: Protests continue in Timișoara, Romania, with rioters breaking into the Romanian Communist Party's District Committee building and attempting to set it on fire.
1989 – Fernando Collor de Mello defeats Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the second round of the Brazilian presidential election, becoming the first democratically elected President in almost 30 years.
1997 – The British Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997 comes into force, banning all handguns with the exception of antique and show weapons.
2002 – Second Congo War: The Congolese parties of the Inter Congolese Dialogue sign a peace accord which makes provision for transitional governance and legislative and presidential elections within two years.
2003 – The Soham murder trial ends at the Old Bailey in London, England, with Ian Huntley found guilty of two counts of murder. His girlfriend Maxine Carr is found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
2003 – SpaceShipOne, piloted by Brian Binnie, makes its first supersonic flight.
2005 – Anti-World Trade Organization protesters riot in Wan Chai, Hong Kong.
2005 – Jigme Singye Wangchuck abdicates the throne as King of Bhutan.
2009 – MV Danny F II sinks off the coast of Lebanon, resulting in the deaths of 44 people and over 28,000 animals.
2010 – Mohamed Bouazizi sets himself on fire. This act became the catalyst for the Tunisian revolution and the wider Arab Spring.
Famous Folk Born on December 17th:
Kujo Yoritsugu
Emperor Go-Uda of Japan
Humphrey Davy
Arthur Fiedler
Willard Libby
Bob Guccione
Armin Mueller-Stahl
Gerald Finnerman
Dave Madden
Cal Ripken, Sr.
Art Neville
Kerry Packer (big tipper in Vegas)
Calvin Waller (one of H. Norman Schwarzkopf's favorite generals)
Eddie Kendricks
Ernie Hudson
Chris Matthews
Bernard Hill
Eugene Levy
Sally Menke
Barry Livingston
Bill Pullman
Peter Farrelley
Richard Jewell (Cox Enterprises' decision to claim they stand by their story libeling Jewell after his lawsuit was dismissed is despicable. They got off only because he died.).
Michele Tafoya
Chuck Liddell
Sean Patrick Thomas
Paula Radcliffe
Giovanni Ribisi
Marissa Ribisi
Milla Jovovich
Chelsea Manning
Movie quotes today come from "Best In Show" in honor of Eugene Levy's birthday:
Gerry Fleck: Don't water the plants, they're plastic!
#2
Buck Laughlin: [as the hound judge examines a Borzoi] Now that looks like a fast dog. Is that faster than a greyhound?
Trevor Beckwith: Uhh... I can't really say...
Buck Laughlin: If you put them in a race, who would come in first? You know if you had a little jockey on them, going like this
[imitates jockeys hitting the side of the horse]
#3
Buck Laughlin: I don't think I could ever get used to being poked and prodded like that. I told my proctologist one time, "Why don't you take me out to dinner and a movie sometime?"
Trevor Beckwith: Yes, I remember you said that last year.
#4
Sherri Ann Cabot: [Discussing her 80 year old husband who's 44 years her senior] Leslie and I have an amazing relationship and it's very physical, he still pushes all my buttons. People say 'oh but he's so much older than you' and you know what, I'm the one having to push him away. We have so much in common, we both love soup and snow peas, we love the outdoors, and talking and not talking. We could not talk or talk forever and still find things to not talk about.
The Hapkido master who trained him for that film, Bong Soo Han used to live upstairs from my siblings, mother and I on Stanford. I mention this because as you can see from that clip above, the camera shifts just before "Billy Jack" delivers that amazing kick. That is because it was one of the few stunts in the film where Han doubled for Laughlin. Nowadays, it wouldn't be nearly as noticeable when something like that is done.
Maybe that's part of the problem that has led to things like this:
Jennifer Lawrence was gorgeous before the editors of this idiotic rag photoshopped her for their cover. Look at all the changes. They didn't just alter her body shape. They elongated her fingers. They darkened her outfit. They changed her hair.
There's no need to do this. The same people who bought this issue were going to buy it with either the photoshopped photo, or the original. I'm sure Ms Lawrence didn't like seeing herself altered in this way, probably without her approval. In a film it's one thing. This is different. And it is wrong.
* * *
FISA is an acronym for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, passed originally in 1978 and amended a number of times following the 9/11 attacks. Today marked a major victory for privacy advocates opposed to the "blank check" the FISA courts have given the nation's intelligence and law enforcement agencies in terms of gathering data.
The reason this is important to know is that after years of the National Security Agency (NSA) collecting so-called "meta-data" on phone calls, a federal judge has ruled that this is almost certainly unconstitutional. The ruling, by U. S. District Judge Richard Leon contained the following:
"I cannot imagine a more 'indiscriminate' and 'arbitrary invasion' than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every citizen for purposes of querying and analyzing it without prior judicial approval. Surely, such a program infringes on 'that degree of privacy' that the Founders enshrined in the Fourth Amendment."
Judge Leon was appointed to the federal bench by President George W. Bush. Now if a Bush appointee has a problem with this, then there's a problem with this.
Many see this as vindication for Edward Snowden, who was the subject of discussion on Sunday evening's episode of "60 Minutes." The director of the NSA was interviewed on the program and said that the U. S. should consider offering amnesty to Snowden if he were to come home and assist in the efforts at damage control to deal with issues caused by his disclosure of classified information.
There is another acronym to learn. FISC. That's the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court, the legal body that operates in secret and gave the NSA the legal authority to carry out its data collection activities. The truth is that the FISC has been rubber-stamping requests from the NSA since FISA was originally passed in 1978.
If you'd like to know more about the NSA, check out the books of James Bamford, author of "The Puzzle Palace."
* * *
That old adage, "a deal is a deal" is one of the first things we learn in this life. Apparently there are people in our elected leadership who can't grasp this concept. The deal in question? The contract that members of our all-volunteer military entered into when they raised their right hands, swore (or affirmed) the oath of enlistment (or commissioning for officers) and signed on the dotted line.
They were promised that if they served the required length of time, they could retire with a retirement benefit that would be adjusted for inflation. Now the government wants to change the rules. The Cost Of Living Adjustments (COLA) for military personnel who retire now, or in the future will be reduced by one percent until the retiree reaches the age of 62, or is disabled.
That wasn't the deal when they were handed the enlistment/commissioning paperwork and signed. COLAs were the same for everyone, no matter their age. This isn't the first time the government has changed the deal, after the fact. When I enlisted in 1976, the deal was retirement pay and free medical care for life. I lost count of how many times I heard about the free medical care from my recruiter before finally signing the paperwork.
Now there is Tricare and a retiree is paying a deductible, coinsurance and monthly premiums of $26.64 for just themselves, or $79.91 per month if they have family coverage. Adding dental care is extra. They changed the deal.
Trying to balance the budget on the backs of our military personnel is just plain wrong.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
The story about Operation Cookie Drop at Travis Air Force Base was nice to see, but the author might have checked before using the terms airmen and airwomen in it. They are all airmen, just as all Army personnel are soldiers. The term airman isn't gender specific. But this is a totally forgivable error.
There's just something wrong with the concept of a gold-plated Xbox that sells for almost $10,000.
A delicious irony can be found in the selling of an Occupy Wall Street poster on the Walmart website.
The 67 year old man who scammed people out of $100 million that was supposed to go to Navy veterans got off easy with a prison sentence of only 28 years.
Alabama football coach Nick Saban threw some work in the direction of Lane Kiffin only because the two share the same agent.
Jet Chevrolet near Seattle offered a promotion they thought they'd never have to make good on, promising 12 lucky winners would each get $35,000 if the Seahawks were able to shut out the Giants. That it came to pass and they have to pay off isn't really all that interesting, but that someone at the dealership was smart enough to buy insurance against it happening is. The dealership is only out $7,000 and gets a ton of publicity. Impressive marketing.
That some states allow retailers to detain those suspected of shoplifting isn't all that bad. But that these retailers in those states can "fine" suspected shoplifters without proof of a crime is disturbing.
Do you think North Korea will keep Dennis Rodman so we don't have to hear about him in the future? No, we aren't that lucky.
I'll be shaking my head for days about the concept of someone bidding almost $100,000 for a painting by George Zimmerman.
* * *
497 BC – The first Saturnalia festival was celebrated in ancient Rome.
546 – Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoths under king Totila plunder the city, by bribing the Byzantine garrison.
920 – Romanos I Lekapenos is crowned co-emperor of the underage Constantine VII.
942 – Assassination of William I of Normandy.
1398 – Sultan Nasir-u Din Mehmud's armies in Delhi are defeated by Timur.
1538 – Pope Paul III excommunicates Henry VIII of England.
1577 – Francis Drake sails from Plymouth, England, on a secret mission to explore the Pacific coast of the Americas for Queen Elizabeth I of England.
1583 – Cologne War: Forces under Ernest of Bavaria defeat troops under Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg at the Siege of Godesberg.
1586 – Go-Yōzei becomes Emperor of Japan.
1600 – Marriage of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici.
1718 – War of the Quadruple Alliance: Great Britain declares war on Spain.
1777 – American Revolution: France formally recognizes the United States.
1790 – Discovery of the Aztec calendar stone.
1807 – Napoleonic Wars: France issues the Milan Decree, which confirms the Continental System.
1812 – War of 1812: U.S. forces attack a friendly Lenape village in the Battle of the Mississinewa.
1819 – Simón Bolívar declares the independence of Gran Colombia in Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar in Venezuela).
1835 – Great Fire of New York: Fire levels lower Manhattan.
1837 – A fire in the Winter Palace of Saint Petersburg kills 30 guards.
1862 – American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky (Grant claimed that he was not an Anti-Semite, that this order was signed by him without being read, and he repudiated it in 1868).
1865 – First performance of the Unfinished Symphony by Franz Schubert.
1892 – First issue of Vogue is published
1896 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Schenley Park Casino, which was the first multi-purpose arena with the technology to create an artificial ice surface in North America, is destroyed in a fire.
1903 – The Wright brothers make their first powered, heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
1907 – Ugyen Wangchuck is crowned first King of Bhutan
1918 – Darwin Rebellion: Up to 1,000 demonstrators march on Government House in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
1919 – Uruguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1926 – Antanas Smetona assumes power in Lithuania as the 1926 coup d'état is successful.
1927 – Indian revolutionary Rajendra Lahiri is hanged in Gonda jail, Uttar Pradesh, India, two days before the scheduled date.
1928 – Indian revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru assassinate British police officer James Saunders in Lahore, Punjab, to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai at the hands of the police. The three were executed in 1931.
1935 – First flight of the Douglas DC-3.
1938 – Otto Hahn discovers the nuclear fission of the heavy element uranium, the scientific and technological basis of nuclear energy.
1939 – World War II: Battle of the River Plate – The Admiral Graf Spee is scuttled by Captain Hans Langsdorff outside Montevideo.
1941 – World War II: Japanese forces land in Northern Borneo.
1944 – World War II: Battle of the Bulge – Malmedy massacre – American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion POWs are shot by Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe Peiper.
1947 – First flight of the Boeing B-47 Stratojet strategic bomber.
1950 – The F-86 Sabre's first mission over Korea.
1951 – The American Civil Rights Congress delivers "We Charge Genocide" to the United Nations.
1957 – The United States successfully launches the first Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
1960 – Troops loyal to Haile Selassie I in Ethiopia crush the coup that began December 13, returning power to their leader upon his return from Brazil. Haile Selassie absolves his son of any guilt.
1960 – 1960 Munich Convair 340 crash: 20 passengers and crew on board as well as 32 people on the ground are killed.
1961 – Niterói circus fire: Fire breaks out during a performance by the Gran Circus Norte-Americano in the city of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, killing more than 500.
1967 – Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt disappears while swimming near Portsea, Victoria, and is presumed drowned.
1969 – The SALT I talks begin.
1969 – Project Blue Book: The United States Air Force closes its study of UFOs.
1970 – Polish 1970 protests: In Gdynia, soldiers fire at workers emerging from trains, killing dozens.
1973 – Thirty passengers are killed in an attack by Palestinian terrorists on Rome's Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport.
1981 – American Brigadier General James L. Dozier is abducted by the Red Brigades in Verona, Italy.
1983 – Provisional IRA members detonate a car bomb at Harrods Department Store in London, England, United Kingdom. Three police officers and three civilians are killed.
1989 – The first episode of television series The Simpsons, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", airs in the United States.
1989 – Romanian Revolution: Protests continue in Timișoara, Romania, with rioters breaking into the Romanian Communist Party's District Committee building and attempting to set it on fire.
1989 – Fernando Collor de Mello defeats Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the second round of the Brazilian presidential election, becoming the first democratically elected President in almost 30 years.
1997 – The British Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997 comes into force, banning all handguns with the exception of antique and show weapons.
2002 – Second Congo War: The Congolese parties of the Inter Congolese Dialogue sign a peace accord which makes provision for transitional governance and legislative and presidential elections within two years.
2003 – The Soham murder trial ends at the Old Bailey in London, England, with Ian Huntley found guilty of two counts of murder. His girlfriend Maxine Carr is found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
2003 – SpaceShipOne, piloted by Brian Binnie, makes its first supersonic flight.
2005 – Anti-World Trade Organization protesters riot in Wan Chai, Hong Kong.
2005 – Jigme Singye Wangchuck abdicates the throne as King of Bhutan.
2009 – MV Danny F II sinks off the coast of Lebanon, resulting in the deaths of 44 people and over 28,000 animals.
2010 – Mohamed Bouazizi sets himself on fire. This act became the catalyst for the Tunisian revolution and the wider Arab Spring.
Famous Folk Born on December 17th:
Buck Laughlin: [as the hound judge examines a Borzoi] Now that looks like a fast dog. Is that faster than a greyhound?
Trevor Beckwith: Uhh... I can't really say...
Buck Laughlin: If you put them in a race, who would come in first? You know if you had a little jockey on them, going like this
[imitates jockeys hitting the side of the horse]
#3
Buck Laughlin: I don't think I could ever get used to being poked and prodded like that. I told my proctologist one time, "Why don't you take me out to dinner and a movie sometime?"
Trevor Beckwith: Yes, I remember you said that last year.
#4
Sherri Ann Cabot: [Discussing her 80 year old husband who's 44 years her senior] Leslie and I have an amazing relationship and it's very physical, he still pushes all my buttons. People say 'oh but he's so much older than you' and you know what, I'm the one having to push him away. We have so much in common, we both love soup and snow peas, we love the outdoors, and talking and not talking. We could not talk or talk forever and still find things to not talk about.
posted by me at 6:27 AM
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