What I Heard This Week 06-22-2023
You know the little one-bite pieces of food that are served at parties, passed around prior to a meal? Going back to the 17th century, the French term hors d’oeuvre (pronounced or-derves) literally means out of work or outside the work but translated to outside the meal or between servings. I thought this was interesting. My first thoughts were that if you’re eating hors d’oeuvres (small portions) it might be because you’re out of work and very poor. An appetizer is typically larger portions than hors d’oeuvres and appears as a first course when already seated at a table. I did not know that. I thought the two words were interchangeable.
“I gave my father $100 and said, ‘Buy yourself something that will make your life easier.’ So, he went out and bought a present for my mother.” – Rita Rudner
This is a thought-provoking paragraph. I arrived through the backdoor and walked into my kitchen last week to see a single crinkle-cut fry had died in the middle of the kitchen floor. I looked around to see if there were more – but I was really looking for the strange person that would be eating crinkle-cut fries in my kitchen. No one was there. The only time I eat crinkle-cut fries is when I stop at Cane’s, and it has been months since I did that. And normally I can finish off the whole order before I get home because they’re better when they’re hot. Inquiring minds want to know where that fry has been hiding all this time. If Teller had found this French fry, it would no longer exist. From his days on the street, he really enjoys anything that is fast food. The cats aren’t talking but I know they know something. I feel sure they carefully placed it on the floor, then watched as I came through the door, laughing as I got down on my hands and knees to see if there were more scattered around. They do that with Q-tips too.
This one is hard to believe. A New York grand jury has indicted the 24-year-old former US Marine, Daniel Penny, who was videoed placing a homeless man in a fatal chokehold on a subway train. If found guilty of second-degree manslaughter, he could face up to 15 years in prison. Daniel Penny released a video on social media saying he did not intend to kill Jordan Neely. “There’s a common misconception that Marines don’t get scared,” he said in the video. “We’re actually taught one of our core values is courage, and courage is not the absence of fear but how you handle fear,” he added, saying he felt compelled to confront Neely as he acted erratically towards passengers. “I was scared for myself, but I looked around there were women and children, he was yelling in their faces saying these threats. I just couldn’t sit still.” The video showed the yelling Jordan Neely repeating over and over, ‘” I’m going to kill you,’ ‘I’m prepared to go to jail for life,’ and ‘I’m willing to die.'” In today’s crazy world, I would say that I hope there’s a Daniel Penny around if someone yells foolishly at me.
Some days, doing “the best we can” may still fall short of what we would like to be able to do, but life isn’t perfect on any front – and doing what we can with what we have is the most we should expect of ourselves or anyone else. – Mister Rogers
Mehran Karimi Nasseri, the Iranian man who lived for 18 years at the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and was the inspiration behind the Steven Spielberg film The Terminal with Tom Hanks, died at age 76. His story also inspired a French film called Lost in Transit and an opera called Flight. After a long absence, he returned to living at the airport in September 2022, and died there of a heart attack in November 2022. In 2004, Nasseri’s autobiography, The Terminal Man, was published. It was co-written by Nasseri with British author Andrew Donkin, and was reviewed in The Sunday Times as being “profoundly disturbing and brilliant.” If you don’t have time to read a book, then just read about him on Wikipedia. Sad, but very interesting story about how he ended up at the airport.
Astrud Gilberto, the bossa nova singer most famous for her recording of “Girl from Ipanema,” widely viewed as the unofficial cultural anthem of Brazil, has died at age 83. I love that dreamy song! I called my mom to tell her and at 87, she could still hum the song. Guess that’s why I know it. Ed Ames, actor and pop singer of Ames Brothers (Bean Song, Which Way to Boston?) and starred as Mingo in the Daniel Boone TV series, died at 95.The Iron Sheik – the Greco-Roman wrestler and Olympian from Iran who shot to fame in the 1980s as a professional wrestler in America, died at 81. Pat Robertson, who founded the Christian Broadcasting Network and hosted The 700 Club for years, died at 93. The controversial evangelical broadcaster ran for president in 1988 and, through his Christian Coalition, helped make religion central to Republican Party politics.
I’ve been to war. I’ve raised twins. If I had a choice, I’d rather go to war. – George W. Bush
Rosalynn Carter, former First Lady and wife of former President Jimmy Carter has been diagnosed with dementia. Bill Cosby (85-years-old) has been sued by 9 more women in Nevada for alleged sexual assaults decades ago. Paul McCartney will release a final Beatles song. He has used AI technology to extricate the late John Lennon’s voice from an old demo to finally complete the track. The song is untitled, but speculation is it’s a 1978 Lennon composition called Now and Then. A UPS strike is on the horizon. Current contracts expire July 31st meaning a strike could begin August 1st. It would be the largest strike for a single employer in U.S. history. Roughly 6% of the country’s gross domestic product moves through the company which is also the largest private unionized employer in the US. Joe V’s Smart Shop is a low-price grocery store that offers many H-E-B products because it’s owned by H-E-B. They launched their first Joe V’s in 2010 and there are now nine stores in the Houston area with more opening in the Dallas area. (I love grocery stores.) Las Vegas police investigated a 911 call about mysterious objects falling from the sky, and 10-ft tall, non-human creatures walking around a family’s backyard. A Utah school district has removed the Bible from elementary and middle school libraries for containing vulgarity and violence. I’m just repeating what the headline said. It’s almost like the inmates are running the prison now.
The former manager of the Harvard Medical School morgue, Cedric Lodge, and his wife Denise, have been charged with buying and selling stolen human remains that were voluntarily donated to the school. He stole dissected portions of donated cadavers, including…heads, brains, skin, bones, and other remains, without knowledge or permission of the school, removing remains from the morgue in Massachusetts then transporting them to his residence in New Hampshire. He sold them online from 2018 to 2021. “Some crimes defy understanding,” said U.S. Attorney Gerard M. Karam in a statement. “The theft and trafficking of human remains strikes at the very essence of what makes us human. It is particularly egregious that so many of the victims here volunteered to allow their remains to be used to educate medical professionals and advance the interests of science and healing. For them and their families to be taken advantage of in the name of profit is appalling. With these charges, we are seeking to secure some measure of justice for all these victims.” (I would tell you more but I’m not sure your stomach is strong enough.) Sometimes he used the US Postal Service. They sold for LOADS of money. I want to donate my body to science, but I don’t want someone dissecting my face, tanning me, and making leather. Oh, wish I could be a juror. We will want to follow this case!
Have a great week. Thank you for taking the time to read and shop with us. Don’t forget to SHOP LOCAL this weekend. Receipts must be dated June 23, 24 or 25 and be a minimum sale of $10.Turn your receipts in by Monday noon at Brazosport Area Chamber of Commerce and be entered for a chance at a $1000 cash prize. Each receipt is worth one entry into the drawing. What a deal.
😊 LISA
Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com