SAY WHAT?!

Heard an ad on the radio for a funeral home the other day; the tag line was “Experience the difference.”

How the hell do you experience the difference (whatever it may be) without actually dying? And wouldn’t it be a little late to comparison shop by then?

I’m just saying…

IRONIC, ISN'T IT...

 'A pine tree planted in 2004 in a Los Angeles park in memory of former Beatle George Harrison has died after being infested by ...beetles.'
(From BBCOnline)

RIP: JAMES GARNER

1928 - July 19 2014

 Was in The Great Escape (one of my favorite movies), and on TV in Maverick and my favorite The Rockford Files.

Sorry to see you go Jim, but you'll always be there in re-runs...

FRIDAY FUNNIES

RIP: JOHNNY WINTER

1944 – July 16, 2014:

One of America's top

 blues guitarists, gone

from us at the age of 70.

 Never got a chance to

see him, though he was

 scheduled for a show at

Ruth Eckerd Hall in

 August, which I was

thinking of going to since

 it had him, brother

Edgar, Kim Simmonds 

and others.

But I do own some 

excellent live albums, old and new to listen to.

 Rock on, Johnny, rock on...

APOCALYPSE...NOW?

 
"Apocalypse Now: What does the threat bring out in you? 

Someone asked, "Do you really believe we're headed for an apocalypse?"

Dude! The apocalypse is already here!
Sci-fi writer William Gibson said the future arrives at different speeds. Same is true of the end that could throw us backward a hundred years.

I look around and I see the power of antibiotics fading as the bugs come back stronger. There's an excellent chance we won't be able to have the surgeries we have now because our antibiotics will no longer work. Do you want to go back to pre-1928 medicine? Of course, not. Nobody wants to die of a sore throat, a bladder infection or appendicitis. But that is our present course. 

I see fracking causing earthquakes and flammable water in kitchen sinks.

I see perma-war.

Most disturbing, I see an unwillingness to change, anti-science and anti-intellectualism. 

Worst? I see a lack of compassion.
Citizens are in big trouble on Spaceship Earth and a lot of people, speaking from fear and ignorance, seem determined to be dicks about it." by Robert Chazz  Chute

Found the above on a blog post from a writer of zombie apocalypse books & suspense fiction. Struck me as very true, and perhaps scarier than all the horror fiction & movies I've read or watched over the last 50 years.

KEITH RICHARDS...?

So I was watching this pirate movie last night – The Golden Hawk, 1952 – and in an early scene at the pirate bar noticed that one of the pirates looked like Keith Richards, especially in the profile shots. Unfortunately, couldn’t find a profile shot online since he was just a random pirate, not one of the stars, but take a look…what do you think?

ODD INTERLUDE

 By Dean Koontz:

‘According to Ed, all of the dead were buried at the government’s expense and were presented with a posthumous medal for something or other. Their spouses and children received lifetime passes granting free admission to all national parks, plus a 23 percent discount on refreshments and souvenirs purchased therein.’

THE EVIL EMPIRE STRIKES

Anheuser-Busch InBev just acquired a small brewery, but not as a means of sneaking into the craft beer party. No, the beer giant’s acquisition of the Czech brewery, Samson, is instead an apparent legal strategy to “strengthen its claim to the trademark name of Budweiser” worldwide, according to CBS News.

Currently, the article adds, A-B InBev is in a global legal battle over the name with Budvar, a brewery based in the same town as Samson, Ceske Budejovice—otherwise known as Budweis.

“[A-B] InBev already owned the parent company of Samson, giving it the right to the name in the Czech Republic alongside Budvar,” according to CBS. “With the deal announced Wednesday, it will also take over Samson’s production, possibly bolstering its legal position when claiming the right to the name in other countries.”
(From Brewbound.com)

Of course, there's no comparison between A-B's Budweiser & Budweiser Budvar..oh wait, there is...Budvar is so much better (I know because I've had it!)

DID YOU KNOW?

A banana is technically a berry…

but a strawberry is not!

Melons can be considered both a fruit AND a vegetable.

(From National Geographic May 2014)

DEAN KOONTZ TWEET

 

Dean Koontz‏@deankoontz

My novel, THE CITY, is on sale today, as Nostradamus predicted in 1562, in his essay, "The Best Book Ever." I am so humbled.

(Not only a great writer, but funny too!)