Nobody 745

Sunday, November 30, 2008
Nobody # 745

Nobody Asked Me But:

“Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably will not themselves be realized.” Daniel Burnham, architect and urban planner

A little plan is to live carefully, cautiously. A large plan is to seize the day.<<<

“We'll put people back to work rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, modernizing schools that are failing our children and building wind farms and solar panels, fuel-efficient cars and the alternative energy technology that can free us from our dependence on foreign oil and keep our economy competitive in the years head." Barack Obama

If Obama does all of this or, even most of it, improves our health care system and keeps the country as safe as possible, there will be little doubt that he will earn a spot in American presidential heaven.<<<

FYI: Did you know that British army officers began wearing the British mustache during their service in India, and it became compulsory until WW I?<<<

Sundance is the classiest of the holiday catalogs that we have received so far – almost all the women models have a glass of red wine in their hands.<<<

And speaking of classy, of all the millions of big game trophies in college football the Indiana-Purdue game has the most literary one, Poet Samuel Woodworth’s “Old Oaken Bucket.”

How dear to this heart are the scenes of my childhood,
When fond recollection presents them to view!
The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wild-wood,
And every loved spot which my infancy knew!
The wide-spreading pond, and the mill that stood by it,
The bridge, and the rock where the cataract fell,
The cot of my father, the dairy-house nigh it,
And e'en the rude bucket that hung in the well-
The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,
The moss-covered bucket which hung in the well.<<<

Still on classy - my second-favorite team nickname? Not even close: Centenary Gentlemen.<<<

I know that some mainly blame over-borrowing by consumers for our current financial mess, but what about the great tempter, dangling credit? An example:

My MasterCard is now owned by the Bank of America who regularly sends me blank checks to use for borrowing against my card account. I don’t want them and have never used them, but I think that many who are not as fortunate as I find it easy to surrender to such temptation. Yes, I believe in personal responsibility, but I also believe in business ethics – one of which is don’t offer loans to people that probably will not be able to pay them back.<<<

And did you ever think how lucky Moses was to have caught God in that burning bush on a good day? If not, when Mose found excuse after excuse to defy God’s command to “Save my people,” the deity could have been royally angry. He could have done an Egyptian boil trial run on Moses right there. “That will teach you to talk back to your God. Now get going and do as I say or no Ten Commandments for you. I’ll save them for David – except I can’t give him the adultery one.”

“Milk” opens this week and with it memories of the infamous Twinkie defense that allowed Dan White and his lawyer to give Madam Justice the finger. A five-year sentence for murder because he was high on sugar? Or was the jury just a touch homophobic?

Of course White could not escape his conscience, or was it his demons? He killed himself two years after his release.<<<

I recently saw this LA Times list of the greatest L.A. Lakers of all time:

1) Kareem Abdul Jabbar
2) Magic Johnson
3) Jerry West
4) Kobe Bryant
5) Elgin Baylor
6) Shaquelle O'Neal
7) James Worthy
8) Gail Goodrich
9) Wilt Chamberlain
10) Chick Hearn

Surprisingly, I would make only two changes. First, I would take Chick off the list. He deserves a list of his own or a much higher place on this one. I vote for the first and would replace him here with Bill Sharman.

Second, I would move Wilt up to number 6, dropping Shaq, Big game” James and Bruin Gail one spot each. Opinions?<<<

What is the best $100 you have ever spent?

Ever is too big, so I will confine this to the past year. It was the $100 bill that I slipped Ryan to celebrate his middle school graduation.<<<

This from the LA Times – “DJesse Vasquez, 14, holds his nehpew, Nathan Sotelo, 2, in their tent outside the Fry's Electronics store in Anaheim.”

Anyone looking for an editor’s job?<<<

The 2008 Ig Nobel Prize Winners:

The 2008 Ig Nobel Prizes were awarded on Thursday night, October 2, at the 18th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, at Harvard's Sanders Theatre. Here are two of the winners.

NUTRITION PRIZE. Massimiliano Zampini of the University of Trento, Italy and Charles Spence of Oxford University, UK, for electronically modifying the sound of a potato chip to make the person chewing the chip believe it to be crisper and fresher than it really is.

BIOLOGY PRIZE. Marie-Christine Cadiergues, Christel Joubert, and Michel Franc of Ecole Nationale Veterinaire de Toulouse, France for discovering that the fleas that live on a dog can jump higher than the fleas that live on a cat.

And finally, the alpha and the omega of Thanksgiving quotes:

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” John Fitzgerald Kennedy

“My mother is such a lousy cook that Thanksgiving at her house is a time of sorrow.” Rita Rudner<<<