Tom McMahon

"A website for those that collect crowns commonly referred to as bottle caps. You will find this to be a fascinating hobby with a wide variety to select from. The Internet has brought many collectors together from all over the world and believe it or not there is a Bottle Cap Collectors Club. The CrownCap Collectors Society International is a great group of collectors formed years ago to bring together those that collect bottle caps. Many collectors call bottle caps miniature works of art. Remember the old soda machines that had bottles? What was the first thing you saw when you opened the door to grab your soda? The Bottle Cap!" 

Kynn Bartlett is an interesting fellow. A computer book writer who also runs a left-wing blog or two. His dad owns a Model A Ford, and like me he's actually been to Dubai. He's written an interesting article on Michael Moore, and has met Jack La Lanne in person. Give him a click or two when you have a spare moment! 

A fun Japanese-style Flash animation (via del.icio.us) 

 

Call 800-527-7096 to get your Free "Cooking with Dr Pepper and 7UP" Recipes (ask Consumer Affairs). More recipes here  

Phil Proctor gives us this definitive resume from one of the presently unemployed:

My first job was working in an orange juice factory, but I got canned couldn't concentrate. Then I worked in the woods as a lumberjack, but I just couldn't hack it, so they gave me the axe. After that I tried to be a tailor, but I just wasn't suited for it, mainly because it was a so-so job. Next I tried working in a muffler factory but that was exhausting. I wanted to be a barber, but I just couldn't cut it. Then I tried to be a chef figuring it would add a little spice to my life -- but I just didn't have the thyme. I attempted to be a deli worker, but any way I sliced it I couldn't cut the mustard.

My best job was being a musician, but eventually I found I wasn't noteworthy. I studied a long time to become a doctor, but I didn't have any patients. Next was a job in a shoe factory; I tried but I just didn't fit in. I became a professional fisherman, but discovered that I couldn't live on my net income. Thought about becoming a witch, so I tried that for a spell. I managed to get a good job working for a pool maintenance company, but the work was just too draining.

I got a job at a zoo feeding giraffes but I was fired because I wasn't up to it. So then I got a job in a work-out-center, but they said I wasn't fit for the job. I found being an electrician interesting, but the work was shocking.

After many years of trying to find steady work I finally got a job as a historian, until I realized there was no future in it. My last job was working at Starbucks, but I had to quit because it was always the same old grind.

 

"Loaded with features you expect to find only in radios costing twice as much. Punch in any AM, FM or shortwave frequency with front panel keypad. Store 30 of your favorite stations into memory. Use scan to find strongest stations in seconds. Pull in distant stations with built-in telescoping antenna or provided external wire antenna. Set alarm for wake-up, set sleep for auto shut-off. Listen with powerful built-in speaker or provided headphones. Switch between mono and stereo sound as needed. Powered by provided AC adapter or 2 "AA" batteries (not included). Lock all controls to prevent accidental re-set. Other great features include durable brushed metal face, large digital LCD display, backlight, dual clocks in 24 hour settings, FM step switch, 10-90 min. sleep timer, volume control, handy carrying pouch and easel back. 4.25"W x 2.75"H x .75"D. " 

Harvey Araton of the NY Times:

In Milwaukee, fans are livid over the dealing of Richie Sexson (45 home runs last season) to Arizona and the team's recent announcement that it will cut payroll by 25 percent next season, to $30 million. Wisconsin politicians who supported a five-county sales tax to build Miller Park are accusing the longtime lowly Brewers — 191-295 in their three-year-old home — of reneging on a promise to field a competitive team in return for the park.

As commissioner, Selig presided over the collective bargaining agreement reached in 2002 that helped the Brewers collect about $15 million from revenue sharing in 2003. How does the Brewers' plan to cut $10 million from a bare-bones payroll jibe with the rationale for siphoning money from big markets to small? More important, how does Selig as baseball's ultimate authority maintain that he is enforcing a deal intended to narrow the competition imbalance?

Several months ago, it was suggested in this space that the Expos be sold to the highest bidder with the promise of inhabiting Miller Park in Milwaukee. With the proceeds from the sale, baseball could then buy out Selig and Company and fold the Brewers. Milwaukee would have a team it could again trust, the Expos would have a home, and Selig would no longer be dogged by conflict of interest.

 

Krazy Ad Characters 

From the Section on Land Prices, Rents, and Taxes:

Ask any Japanese why homes cost so much and you'll get the Standard Party Line: "Yes, Japan is a small country with very little land, blah, blah, blah." This of course is true. Japan has almost half the U.S. population in a land space that's a bit smaller than California. But that does not explain why a QUARTER of the Japanese population lives in or around Tokyo, or why the Shimane Prefectural government will give you land for free if you agree to live there at least 6 mos. a year. The real reasons are found a bit deeper. In fact, most Japanese themselves, being completely apolitcal, are clueless on how their government or System functions. One of the biggest reasons why Tokyo is insanely expensive is because the government is based there. And Big Business is in bed with the politicians and bureaucrats. So if Big Business is based there, that's where all the best jobs are and where everyone wants to live. But there's more. Japan is one of the few nations in the industrialized world that has extremely light property taxes, but if you sell a home the tax is a killer 50%!!. This chokes off the supply of land and for the average Japanese worker owning a home will only be a dream. Land is also very expensive because floor space per square meter of land is artificially restricted by government regulations. Inheiritance taxes in Japan are even more devastating, so dying is a terrible thing to do to your family. Things got still worse in the "Bubble Era" of the early '90s, which was a rampant speculative boom. Since then land prices and rents have fallen dramatically but the real causes have not been dealt with so the problem will not go away.

Still worse, the ever-meddling Japanese government has done it's part to stick its fingers in and make things harder. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forest and Fisheries still pushes a system where there are "farmers" growing food in Tokyo-to, just to say that there are farmers in the area to have a role in policy making. So just 20 minutes by train out of Setagaya you'll find farmers growing cabbages on land worth billions of dollars. Why? Low taxes--that's why. But the situation is much the same in every Japanese city--the rural areas continue to depopulate, and the cities are getting more concentrated. North of Tokyo are literally thousands of square miles of land with almost no people--but the shots are called from Tokyo, so that's where the VIPs all are. There is one more piece of the puzzle--other high taxes. Income taxes are not too vicious (to the benefit of the wealthy, of course) but high corporate taxes, sin taxes, subsidies, and a 5% Consumption Tax all take their toll. Japanese taxes on alcohol and tobacco are high, and imported drinks are often cheaper than domestic ones (except for snob goods, which we'll get to in a bit). The government also has heavy subsidies for Japanese agriculture, especially rice. The government buys all the rice made at very high prices, and sells it at a cheaper price to avoid the wrath of the consumers. So where does the government get its money, everyone?? At the same time it blocks foreign rice imports (gradually the system will be moved to tariffication, but if foreign rice is made more expensive than Japanese rice, of course no one will buy it). Now Japanese rice costs about seven times the world price. So even if you choose not to eat rice (the Japanese staple food), you pay for it in your taxes anyway. Gasoline is also highly taxed. Currently 54 yen of every liter's (that's 205 yen per gallon) price is tax. And of course there's the ubiquitous 5% Consumption Tax, soon to go up in a Japan near you. But Japan's tax is applied also to gasoline and alcohol, so you're also paying tax for a tax. How's that for obscene? It also applies to food, as well as to all parts in the production process: compounding itself more and more on durable goods. This alone raises prices on a lot of things, but we've just gotten started.

(via the SachsReport) 

(via Dean's World) 

Two Palestinians are chatting. One pulls his wallet out and starts flipping through pictures.

He says, "Here's my oldest son. He's a martyr. And here's my second son. He's a martyr too."

After a pause and a deep sigh, the second Palestinian wistfully says, "They blow up so fast, don't they?"

(via Planet Proctor) 

From Taschen 

• Doodle #1


• Doodle #2


• Doodle #3


• Doodle #4


• Doodle #5


• Doodle #6


• Game #1


• Game #2

(via Jim Kohli) 

Jelly of the Month Club #1, Jelly of the Month Club #2, Jelly of the Month Club #3.

It's the Gift that keeps on giving the whole year long. -- Cousin Eddie

 

Denis Dutton: "High raw IQ is frequently associated with genius, but it is generally a necessary rather than sufficient condition: he points out that the Guinness Book of Records’s highest intelligence placement belongs to the popular columnist Marilyn vos Savant, a woman who has not distinguished herself in any field, despite her awesome 228 IQ." . . . . Embassy of Iceland: "An old Icelandic folklore states that everyone has to get one new piece of clothing at Christmas. Anyone who was left out was in danger of being eaten by a malicious beast called the Christmas Cat. Similar stories exist about a bull in the Baltics and about a goat in Norway." . . . . Joe Bob Briggs: "Protesters against "corporate coffee"--yes, that's what we said--glued the doors shut on 16 Starbucks outlets in Houston, thereby delaying the publication of 37 novels written on yellow legal pads. " . . . . Brent Bozell: "Sharpton's lying manipulation of the Tawana Brawley hoax was not funny, or astute or well-meaning. Neither were the deaths that spilled out of his "no justice, no peace" street provocations. For "Saturday Night Live" and most of the chuckle-head political culture, livening up dreadful Democratic debates absolves all the horror. There is no need for unrepentant Rev. Sharpton to repent, because no one remembers what he has done." . . . . . Charles Krauthammer: "If there is going to be another swing to the story line, there can only be one, and the media will hype it as much as they hyped his rise: ``Dean stumbles." A loss to Gephardt in Iowa would be huge news. Two polls have Dean with a 30-point lead in New Hampshire. Any rival who on primary day narrows the gap to single digits will be labeled the ``comeback kid,'' just as Bill Clinton ``won'' the New Hampshire primary in 1992 by finishing ``only'' eight points behind Paul Tsongas. On the night he won the Massachusetts primary in 1976, Sen. Henry Jackson euphorically predicted he would win big in New York. He won by 13 percent. It was played as a defeat. He never recovered." . . . . Uri Dromi: "What brings Muslims to believe that blowing themselves to pieces as human bombs, together with innocent people, is the right way to serve God?" . . . . . more later
 

• 12 Angry Men (1957)


• American Beauty (1999)


• Apocalypse Now (1979)


• Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il (1966)


• Casablanca (1942)


• C'era una volta il West (1968)


• Citizen Kane (1941)


• Dr. Strangelove


• Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Le (2001)


• Fight Club (1999)


• Godfather, The (1972)


• Godfather: Part II, The (1974)


• Goodfellas (1990)


• It's a Wonderful Life (1946)


• Lawrence of Arabia (1962)


• Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (2001)


• Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The (2002)


• Matrix, The (1999)


• Memento (2000)


• North by Northwest (1959)


• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)


• Paths of Glory (1957)


• Pianist, The (2002)


• Psycho (1960)


• Pulp Fiction (1994)


• Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)


• Rear Window (1954)


• Schindler's List (1993)


• Shawshank Redemption, The (1994)


• Shichinin no samurai (1954)


• Silence of the Lambs, The (1991)


• Some Like It Hot (1959)


• Star Wars (1977)


• Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)


• Sunset Blvd. (1950)


• Taxi Driver (1976)


• Third Man, The (1949)


• To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)


• Usual Suspects, The (1995)


• Vertigo (1958)

This is a list of the Top 40 movies on imdb, arranged in alphabetical order. See if you can guess the Top 10, then check your answers at imdb's Top 250 Movies 

Hugh Hewitt:

The world is full of interesting theories. There's the theory that FDR was warned of the attack on Pearl Harbor, but allowed it to happen in order to enrage America and bring us fully into World War II. There's the theory that LBJ had JFK knocked off on the orders of Texas oilmen. There's the Raelians' theory that ancient space travelers planted people on Earth; and there are the very interesting theories contained in "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" along with the theory that the Bilderberger Group is secretly running the world. And there is the theory that President Bush is suppressing evidence in the investigation of the September 11 attacks because "he was warned ahead of time by the Saudis." Of all these "interesting theories," however, only one--the last one--has been uttered by the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination.

 

Diana Hsieh graciously provides her rules for the holidays. The first three:

1. About carrot sticks. Avoid them. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. Like fine single-malt scotch, it's rare. In fact, it's even rarer than single-malt scotch. You can't find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an egg-nogaholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

 

"Authentic coin of the Roman Empire. Certified to have been minted between 240 and 410 AD. Handmade, so no two are alike. Each features an emperor on one side & various myths or history on the reverse. Includes handsome leather-like display binder & certificate that guarantees authenticity. Price: $14.98"
 

Jonah Goldberg:

By the way, where the hell is this much-vaunted blogosphere? If three freshman congressmen from Wisconsin hinted that they wanted to regulate the use of umlauts on the internet in honor of Leif Ericson's birthday, bloggers would be on the steps of Congress up-ending cans of gasoline on themselves in protest at such an infringement on free speech. But here we have all three branches of the government severely restricting independent speech outside of the dinosaurs of Old Media. You may think this is all fine or even necessary, and we can have that argument. But at least have the courage to admit that it's censorship — censorship you like.

 

Click here to find out. 

 

Shake The Holiday Snowglobe! (via TRM) 

Chicago Sun-Times: "After more than 50 years as a noontime fixture on WGN-AM (720), the weekday farm report and agribusiness show is being put out to pasture. Orion Samuelson and Max Armstrong, longtime hosts of "The Noon Show," will continue to deliver brief agribusiness reports throughout the day and retain their two Saturday programs on the Tribune Co.-owned news/talk station. But as of Jan. 5, the 45-minute Monday-through-Friday noon show will disappear. Although the show still generates more than $1 million a year in advertising revenue, it is substantially down from its onetime high of nearly $5 million a year. "We have a need to compete with programming that appeals to a wider audience in the marketplace," Mark Krieschen, vice president and general manager of WGN, said. "Let's face it: 'The Noon Show' had a very niche target. But it was kind of a stop-gap for us. We think this will help the flow of our programming.""

Historical Footnote from the WGN website:

"The first moments of WGN Radio's coverage of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The first clip (2:11) is from "Country Fair" (the predecessor of "The Noon Show") as Orion Samuelson reads a bulletin he is handed while reporting on farm news. With only the most minimal information, and in the days before network coverage was available to instantly expand on the story, he returns to the scheduled program while awaiting further news. In the second clip (1:47) from several minutes later, Orion ends the show by recapping what was known to that point. The station then goes to some soft slow-tempo music. The third clip (1:28) is a few minutes later as WGN's Jack Taylor reads a further update. (11/22/63)" 

Justice Antonin Scalia:

This is a sad day for the freedom of speech. Who could have imagined that the same Court which, within the past four years, has sternly disapproved of restrictions upon such inconsequential forms of expression as virtual child pornography, Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 535 U. S. 234 (2002), tobacco advertising, Lorillard Tobacco Co. v. Reilly, 533 U. S. 525 (2001), dissemination of illegally intercepted communications, Bartnicki v. Vopper, 532 U. S. 514 (2001), and sexually explicit cable programming, United States v. Playboy Entertainment Group, Inc., 529 U. S. 803 (2000), would smile with favor upon a law that cuts to the heart of what the First Amendment is meant to protect: the right to criticize the government. For that is what the most offensive provisions of this legislation are all about.

 

Triumph of the Will and Olympiad 

Pat Buchanan:

Of Al Gore's stunning endorsement of Howard Dean, even before the Iowa Caucus, it may be said, Richard Nixon would have been impressed. For Gore is executing with boldness and coldness a comeback strategy identical to the one Nixon engineered 40 years ago. Seeing Howard Dean as the party nominee, he has bet his future in national politics on making himself a hero to the Dean Machine. Look for Gore to have a major role at the Boston Convention, keynoting or nominating Dean, and to campaign for the ticket across the country, piling up IOUs. Should Dean win, Gore can probably have any position he wants, including secretary of state. Should Dean lose, Gore is positioned to inherit Dean's estate. Should Gore choose to contest the nomination in 2008 with Hillary, he will be running to her left for the nomination. And, as Dean has shown again, the liberal wing of the party is the nominating wing.

Al Gore has just declared his independence of the Clintons and may have fired the first shot in a Clinton-Gore battle for the soul of the Democratic Party in 2008. Well played.

 

LIEBERMAN'S WIFE ENDORSES DEAN:

In the latest body blow to the candidacy of Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), Mr. Lieberman's wife Hadassah today endorsed former Vermont Governor Howard Dean for President.

Mrs. Lieberman used one of her husband's rallies in Concord, New Hampshire to make her stunning announcement.

"I would like to introduce the next President of the United States," Mrs. Lieberman said. "But unfortunately, Howard Dean is in Iowa today."

 

 

Selections from this list of cliches from War Movies:

• You're very likely to survive any battle in any war, unless you show someone a picture of your sweetheart back home.


• All G.I.s know how to make a still out of a jeep radiator.


• Every unit has a "Scrounge" who can get you anything from an atomic bomb to a date with the general's daughter for a bottle of cheap scotch, or vice-versa.


• Elite units (Special Forces, Rangers, Commandos) are always recruited from convicts and other socially degenerate segments of society.


• Only the Marines fought the war in the Pacific. No Army personnel were involved.


• Any machine gun nest can be approached from behind without difficulty, but not until half the unit has been wiped out.


• Soldiers and sailors must have at least on bar room brawl usually followed by a scene where they come to each others mutual aid the next day.

 

The Nitpickers' List of Errors in the movie A Christmas Story. Example: "Right after the father opens the box containing the "leg lamp" Ralph realizes that he is missing his radio show. He turns on the radio and it starts to make sound immediately. It is the 40s or 50s and the radio is a tube radio. Tube radios take about 15 seconds to warm up before they start to make sound." (via Scott Farkas and Grover Dill) 

Truman Collins: "The railroads are excellent investments, particularly when owned together, although in absolute income terms they don't keep up with heavily built on properties later in the game. The best return on investment to be found is from putting a third house on New York Avenue. In fact, the third house has the fastest payoff of any building on almost all of the properties. The square most landed on other than Jail is Illinois Avenue, and in fact a hotel there will bring the most income other than a hotel on Boardwalk. By far the worst individual investment is to buy Medeterranean Avenue without first owning Baltic. That's not to say that you shouldn't buy it, but it's not going to make you much money without quite a bit of construction. The properties between the Jail square and the Go To Jail square are landed on the most, because of the jump caused by landing on Go To Jail. The Orange ones have the biggest bang for the buck as far as building goes." (via Larry's Pretty Good Web Log) 

Wesley Pruden: "Church fights are usually the province of more robust denominations. The Baptists come quickly to mind. There's a maxim among Baptists that fights that split congregations, usually over something as historic as whether to change the hymnal or to put a new roof on the Sunday school building, are like 3 a.m. spats between alley cats: All they amount to are more Baptists and more cats." 

Simon Coggins and Felix Salmon 

. . . here is The List Of Famous People Who Have a First Name for a Last Name 

The Weather Channel's First Meteorologist Bruce Edwards is Now Bruce Kalinowski At WOIO in Cleveland. 

NYTimes.com: "You get the feeling that if Mr. Dean and Mr. Bush were stuck together in a small Missouri town, Mr. Dean would lecture farmers about Thomas Paine's writings, while Mr. Bush would have the cafe crowd in stitches by doing impersonations of Mr. Dean." 

Jonah Goldberg: "For a sizable group of Democrats, Al Gore gets the blood pumping. For the rest of us, he's the human incarnation of footnotes: dry data compressed into an amazingly dull format. The Simpsons said it best when Bart's friend Martin bought a talking Al Gore doll. When you pull the string on the doll's back it says, "You are hearing me talk."" 

The Institute of Breakfast Cereal Technology. Another reason the Soviets could never even hope to keep up with the good old US of A. 

Virginia Mixson Geraty: "Along the southeastern coast of the United States there is a narrow strip of land which is known to linguists and dialect geographers as the Gullah Area. This region, which includes the sea islands along the coast, extends roughly from Jacksonville, North Carolina to Jacksonville, Florida, and inland for about one hundred miles. Living in this area are African-American people who are descendants of the tribesmen brought to the New World during the time of the Slave Trade. These people still speak variations of the original creole language known as Gullah." 

The Evangelical Outpost: "“Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them” is not just the title of Al Franken's latest book; it's the left's dominant view of conservative elites. Search any liberal blog, for example, and you’ll find a blogger whose favorite synonym for President Bush is "liar." For a group that supported a President who was impeached for perjury you would think they’d prefer a different invective. " 

Bow Huntin' II from Radica is a realistic bow with true draw and release action that puts you in the hunt for that trophy buck. Use your deer calls to bring the deer into range. Check your distance to target, take aim, pull back your bow and wait for the right moment to release. Authentic sound effects. 2 game modes: tree stand, hunting and target shooting. $19.47 

"The Kingsmen were paid decently (if not handsomely) for hundreds of personal appearances, and received royalty payments from Wand Records. The amounts of the royalty payments were based on negotiated percentages of revenues relating to the number of units sold of the various Kingsmen recordings, as reported to the band by Wand.

We first began to suspect that we also might have been the victims of exploitation when we were told (by record company executives) that they would "burn their books before we would ever see them." Therefore, we were never able to confirm to our satisfaction that we were being paid royalties in accordance with the true number of units sold. We do not state this as an accusation, as we have no evidence upon which to base such an accusation.

In the course of events, record sales dwindled and, since musical styles were changing, the band became dormant in September of 1968. Sometime thereafter, Scepter/Wand ceased operations and their catalog of masters, including 105 Kingsmen recordings, was acquired by another firm. We didn't think much about this, although we became aware of occasional releases of our material, most frequently "Louie Louie," on various labels. At that point, we felt we should be receiving royalties for these releases, but had no idea how to collect them -- we had ended our management agreement and, thus, were without managerial or legal representation.

We became more energized, however, when "National Lampoon's Animal House" opened in theaters in 1978. Although John Belushi's version of "Louie Louie" was featured in the body of the film, the Kingsmen version was played over the credits. We felt we should have been paid synchronization rights, but repeated attempts to collect failed. "Animal House," for a time, held the distinction of being the largest grossing film in history. We knew we should have been paid for the use of our record. . . ." (via Tim) 

Since he suffered a brain injury almost 13 years ago, our son Ryan, now 21, has not been able to walk or talk. But he does communicate with his eyes (I know it's kind of a cliche, but it's true) and via his laughter. Just very recently he's started doing another trick: I put my hand on top of his, then he will think and think and think and then move his hand out from under mine, and then put his hand on top of mine. Why is he able to do this now? I really don't know. Maybe there was some Magic in those postcards from England sent by Nigel and Sally. All I know is, you would think it's pretty neat too if you had been waiting 13 years for it!
 

The First Chain Letter*

This chain of good cheer was started by a shepherd in Bethlehem and is going around the world for the 2003rd year.
If you break this chain you will lose every friend you have.
Before December 25th copy this message -- "Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year**" -- and send it to everyone you know.
An old maid who completed this chain suddenly received a proposal of marriage from a stout gentleman in a red suit who came down her chimney on Christmas Eve.
A department store Santa Claus who broke this chain was reported by a small boy and lost his job the same day.
Warning! Do not break this chain!
You will have: "A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!"

Tom and Nancy McMahon and Family
http://tommcmahon.net

* Our Special Thanks to Portland and Fred Allen for this letter
** Substitute your Holiday of the Season as appropriate 

In this list, Hillary only rates an Honorable Mention. 

Gizmodo: "From Solid Alliance in Japan, a new duck-shaped USB storage drive with 16MB of storgae space that lights up when plugged into a computer. The i-Duck comes in yellow, blue, and pink." 

I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged, that's all. Their feathers are just too bright...and when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice . . . but still, the place you live is that much more drab and empty that they're gone. . .

I guess I just miss my friend.

"Red", The Shawshank Redemption

 

On the anniversary of John Lennon's death, it's worth taking a look at the gibberish in his beloved anthem. 

The Immanuel Kant Finger Puppet 

"AlsoSalt is a salt substitute that isn't salt, but tastes like it. It is completely sodium free without the bitter aftertaste associated with other salt substitutes when used on food. If you are on a low salt - low sodium diet, or even a salt free diet, you can now salt foods all you like. Introducing AlsoSalt, the first major breakthrough in salt substitutes. It tastes great and it's healthy. Its two main ingredients, potassium and L-lysine are completely natural. Both are nutrients that are essential to good health. You not only remove sodium from your diet - you are replacing it with nutrients. L-lysine, which has its own salty flavor, neutralizes the aftertaste associated with other salt substitutes. Use in cooking, baking, or sprinkle on your food at the table as you would table salt." 

There are three different time arrangements in the Hoosier State:

1. 77 counties (including state capital Indianapolis) are in the Eastern Time Zone but do not change to Daylight time in April; instead they remain on Standard Time all year long;
2. 10 counties -- five near Chicago, IL, and five near Evansville, IN, are in the Central Time Zone and use both Central Standard and Central Daylight;
3. Five other counties -- two near Cincinnati, OH, and three near Louisville, KY -- are in the Eastern Time Zone but use both Eastern Standard and Eastern Daylight.

 

"Tired of using your imagination to fire your R/C tank at the enemy Bawls bottle which maliciously invaded your territorial sovereignty? Imagine no longer, and blast the enemy on your living room carpet with the powerful air motor turret on this R/C tank (uses self generated compressed air). Direct from Japan, this R/C battle tank is ready to bring your childhood battle simulation dreams to life in the comfort of your home or office. " 

The capture of Richmond had been the goal of the Union Army since the beginning of the Civil War. The Confederate capital lay tantalizingly close to Washington - only 100 miles - but it took four years of hard battle before the city fell to Union troops on April 3, 1865. Upon hearing the news of the fall of the Confederate Capital, President Lincoln accompanied by his son Tad, boarded a boat and sailed to survey the scene himself.  

The story of 1st Lt. William R. Schick 

"On November 8, 1939, or about 27 months before Lt. Butch O'Hare would save the U.S.S. Lexington, Edward J. O'Hare was seen cleaning and loading a Spanish-made .32-caliber semi-automatic pistol in his office at Sportsman's Park. Although he was known to own several firearms, he was never known to carry a gun. He left his office that afternoon, got into his black 1939 Lincoln coupe and drove away from the track, heading first north on Cicero and then northeast on Ogden, toward Downtown Chicago. As Eddie O'Hare approached the intersection of Ogden and Rockwell, a car roared up beside him and two shotgun-wielding murderers opened fire with repeated blasts of big- game slugs. The slugs tore through the glass and metal of the Lincoln's door, killing Eddie instantly. As the Lincoln crashed into a post at the side of the roadway, the killers continued east on Ogden, where they soon became lost in other traffic. As might be expected, they were never found. In 1949, six years after he went down near Tarawa Island in the South Pacific, Orchard Depot was renamed O'Hare International Airport, in memory of Navy Lt. Cmdr. Edward Henry (Butch) O'Hare, Eddie's son." 

Healthlink, from the Medical College of Wisconsin 

1939 Chevy Woody Wagon: "Originally designed as a commercial vehicle, the Woody later became a favorite of surfers with its ample space for their heavy wooden "long boards." Our die cast metal and plastic rendition of this automotive classic features real wood panels, opening piano-hinged hood, detailed engine, front fender spare tire case, opening front doors, detailed interior, three bench seats, opening rear window gate, simulated leather top and movable rubber tires." 

OberDicta leads us to Good Gift Games 2003, a list of games that make swell presents for the holiday season . . . . The Presurfer points the way to Shave the Moon!, the true story of JFK's commitment to landing a man on the moon, shaving it, and returning him safely to Earth . . . . Nicedoggie.net shows us where you go if you click on "Miserable Failure" . . . . One Of The Best Headlines I've Seen In Quite A While from JSOnline: "Officials Bristle At Bishop's Epistle"