THE IRAQ SOLUTION(S)

I had a thought the other day, while listening to yet another discussion about the whole Iraq mess. Why not outsource? We outsource damn near everything these days because it's 'cheaper', at least if you don't factor in the quality (or lack of it, when was the last time you've heard of lead paint in toys mad here in the U.S.ofA.?) So how about if we outsource the whole 'war on terror' to some other place? Maybe to some other Muslim country, since they always seem to be fighting each other anyway. This way, the Muslim sects can take out their aggressions on each other (instead of us), and get paid for it. Which would certainly be cheaper in American & Allied lives, and also cheaper than what it's costing in $$$.

So, let's put some effort in looking for the cheapest way of doing this, the same way we look for thecheapest way of doing everything else. Or, speaking of cheaper, perhaps we just offer illegal aliens citizenship if they go to Iraq and fight for 5 (or 100) years. That way, it doesn't cost anything but the price of weapons and the paper to print the certificates for the survivors.

Hey, c'mon, it's just as intelligent an idea as anyone else has come up with - at least I have a plan!

1,2,3...FLAME ON

The three steps of stupidity;
1) Carry a gas can on your head.
2) Leave the cap off.
3) After sloshing gas on yourself, smoke a cigarette.

Now, this really happened...it was in today's paper. The lady who
did this is burned over 20% of her body after her friends put her out.
The paper says that she is not in danger of dying from the burns.

However, she is probably in danger of dying from her stupidity, sooner or later...

I YAM WHAT I YAM

Popeye...which brings us to today's topic. The founder of Popeye's Chicken died the other day, which brought to light an interesting fact.

Apparently, Al Copeland, who started out with a one man donut show, later went into the fried chicken biz after seeing the success that KFC

was having. The interesting part is that the chain was named after Popeye Doyle, the character in The French Connection, and not

Popeye the spinach eating sailor. Go figure! The funny thing is, shortly before moving to Florida (late 80s) there was a Popeye's

grand opening in a town near where we lived. So we went, being that it was the first Popeye's near us back then, and who did they

have at the grand opening celebration...

...Popeye the Sailor!

 

 

CLASSIC ALBUMS LIVE

"Note For Note, Cut For Cut" or so the advertising goes. And actually, it's pretty damn close, considering that it is a live version of the album, which can almost never sound the same as the actual studio version. So we went to see the second of the 3 shows in the spring series - Who's Next, which is probably my favorite Who album. And it was absolutely incredible!! The band, which had a total of I think 11 people who grouped and re-grouped in sets of 4 to 9 depending on the song, were absolutely spot on musically. They even had one lady who only played the cello(?) in 'Baba `O Riley', and the ending of that song was a sight to see, didn't know anyone could play a cello so fast. The singer was incredible, and while not expecting him to sound like Roger Daltrey, he certainly channeled the spirit of Roger. And that makes a lot of the show; when we saw The Doors album live last month, the singer, while a decent singer, just didn't come across as well, and the show overall was less exciting. And the guitar player 'Dr Mike', also sang the Pete Townshend & John Entwhistle songs - which worked ok since he wasn't a great singer and neither were they. And when the album was done, the band got a standing ovation, a real concert style one, not a broadway show style one! And after the break they came back and did some more Who songs, and that was fun too.
So, if you get a chance to see this outfit, you should definitely go, while you never know what line-up you may get, all the band members are incredible musicians, and you will most likely enjoy whatever album you go see. Our next show is Zep's Houses Of the Holy, and there's plans for Boston & Abbey Road for the fall - maybe Toys In the Attic in July (yeah!!).
So, go out, pretend you're young again, and rock on...

BEER TRIVIA

  Did you know…

The first u.s. breweery was started in Manhattan in 1623.

Beer was first U.S. mass bottled beer was sold in 1850.

Beer was first sold in cans  in 1935 – it was Krueger's Finest in Richmond VA.

Brown Ale is often reddish in color.

In 2007, 2 of the U.S.'s top 5 beer suppliers were importers.

Among the country's top 10 beers in sales are Corona at #6 & Heineken at #9.

 

And here's the most interesting part…

The drinking age is 21 or over in only four countries:

South Korea

Malaysia

Ukraine

and…

you guessed it…

the U.S.A.

Doesn't it make you proud to be in such fine company…?

RIP:ARTHUR C CLARKE

 At the age of 90 in Sri Lanka. Now here's someone that goes back into the deep recesses of my past. Probably started reading him back in the early to mid-sixties when I started reading Science Fiction. Even belonged to the SFBC when their books were about 99 cents! Of course, he was generally best known for 2001:A Space Odyssey, but I've also read Childhood's End & The Nine Billion Names Of God, among others of the over 100 SF & non-fiction books he wrote. Interestingly, he also invented the concept of communication satellites in geosynchronous orbits in 1945, which orbits are now named after him. And here's an interesting quote he once said after telling reporters he had arranged to have his DNA sent into orbit after his death:

 

"One day, some super civilization may encounter this relic from the vanished species and I may exist in another time," he said. "Move over, Stephen King."

 

So now he joins other writers from my past like Philip K Dick & Isaac Asimov where perhaps they'll get to see the far future and find out how close they may have been to reality...hey, you just never know...

LAND OF THE FREE

 Sam from work just got back from a vacation trip to Washington,D.C.; you know, the capital of the land of the free, home of the brave.

He tells me the most striking thing about Washington is the number of armed police ALL over the place. Sitting in cars at intersections

all over the place - in museums, at monuments, etc. Even some with patches that say "Special Police". I wonder if they go to "Special School" for that? And of course, you can't just go in the monuments & State Buildings anymore unless you have a ticket that they give out in limited quantities at 8:30 in the morning - and not that many tickets either, considering the number of tourists in D.C. Sure makes it sound like the 'terrorists' have already won, doesn't it?

 And the ironic part is; when you finally get in to see the Declaration Of Independence and the Constitution, they've now become so faded that they're pretty much impossible to read.

 As the documents go...so goes the reality...

REBATE & SWITCH

As you may have heard, the Bush Administration said 
 each and every one of us would now get a nice rebate. 
 If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, all the money will 
 go to China . If we spend it on gasoline it will all 
 go to the Arabs, if we purchase a computer it will all 
 will all go to Mexico, Honduras, and Guatamala, if we 
 purchase a good car it will all go to Japan, if we 
 purchase useless crap it will all go to Taiwan and 
 none of it will help the American economy. 
 
 
 We need to keep that money here in America , so the 
 only way to keep that money here at home is to buy 
 prostitutes and beer, since those are the only 
 businesses still in the US

     With thanks to Fred (you know who you are...

GUITAR ZERO

 An interesting concept, Guitar Hero, who hasn't at some point played air guitar to their favorite song. I know I did (still do in the privacy of my home) especially in college, where 3-4-5 of us would play a whole album and air band to it. One guy used to love doing Jethro Tull so he could stand on one leg and play air flute! Ah, the good old days. So now, they have this video game, and it's probably fun. But only if you do it right. Two guys at work do it at lunch time, and they sit down and really concentrate while doing playing. C'mon, where's the fun in that. Why is it about beating the game (or each other) instead of rocking out?! Sitting down and rocking out are mutually exclusive, even if Eric Clapton made it popular and one a Grammy for it. Of course, he never would have had such an iconic song as Layla if he'd done it sitting down and acoustic to start with...

So c'mon Guitar Zeroes - stand up and be Guitar Heroes...

GOVERNOR GETS CAUGHT

Well, today in the news I see the Governor of New York got caught paying for call girls. High class call girls no less, part of a prostitution ring that was being investigated. At least he is a Democrat (albeit a stupid one) or we would have been reading about…

A gay prostitution ring…hahaha