What I Heard This Week 07-13-2023
Texas passed a new law eliminating the use of temporary paper license plates in the state. It won’t go into effect anytime soon (July 1, 2025), but dealers will simply have to issue $10 metal plates to buyers purchasing cars. Temporary plates are easy to fake and often found on cars used to commit crimes. The Chronicle stated, a 2022 report estimated that “at least” 1.8 million cars in Texas are without real plates, and that a “tagdemic” of fraudulent paper tags had cost Harris county about $80 million in registration fees over the previous six years. Wouldn’t it be great if the plates were compostable or could be recycled for $$ like coke and milk bottles were back in the good old days.
3 in 4 people don’t regularly eat food high in probiotics which are important for a healthy gut, which in turn boosts our immune system, which then helps our entire bodies. Remember yogurt, kefir (fermented milk drink), pickles, kimchi (traditional Korean side dish consisting of salted and fermented vegetables, most commonly using napa cabbage or Korean radish), miso (fermented soybean paste – I buy it in a bottle and use it to flavor dishes – it’s delicious), and sauerkraut. Other foods that you need to incorporate in your diet are asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes (they’re not heavy in starch like potatoes but can be roasted, mashed and make a great potato substitute), bananas, oatmeal, red wine 😊 (I personally incorporate and experience this in a glass as I chop and cook), honey, maple syrup, and legumes (beans, soybeans, green beans, chickpeas, alfalfa, lentils, peas, & peanuts). If you don’t take care of your body, where are you going to live?
Larry Nassar, the disgraced former USA gymnastics team doctor convicted of state and federal charges for sexually assaulting underaged members of the USA gymnastics team and for possessing child pornography, has been stabbed in prison again, but is listed in stable condition. I hope it doesn’t hurt…much. A prominent Harvard business school professor who studies honesty was accused of falsifying data in a behavioral science study. In Florida, a man called the Python Cowboy along with his python-sniffing dog Otto, captured a 16-ft Burmese python that was ready to lay over 60 eggs. I’m glad I live in Texas.
22-year-old Rikkie Valerie Kolle has been named Miss Netherlands 2023, becoming the first transgender woman to take the title; now heading to the Miss Universe pageant in El Salvador later this year. Anne Chakrajutathib, a business tycoon who controls JKN Global Group Public Co. Ltd., is a celebrity in Thailand, has starred in reality shows and is outspoken about being a transgender woman, recently acquired the rights to the Miss Universe pageant. “I don’t call Miss Universe a beauty pageant anymore,” she said. “I call it a women’s empowerment competition.”
Trying to make protein shakes but they keep coming out as margaritas.
What heat dome? They’re still skiing in Colorado. Barbie officially opens on July 21, but the first public screening was recently held in LA. The reviews that I read were great, but critic reviews will come out closer to the 21st. Leslie Louise Van Houten also known by various aliases such as Louella Alexandria, Leslie Marie Sankston, Linda Sue Owens and Lulu, a convicted murderer and former member of the Charles Manson Family, was released on parole after serving 53 years of a life sentence in relation to the 1969 killings of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. Some are not happy about this.
There is only one tropical disturbance in the Atlantic which shows a 50% chance of cyclone formation in the next seven days. It is more than 500 miles east-northeast of Bermuda. As it makes way north over cooler water, it should limit additional development according to the National Hurricane Center.
RECENT BIRTHDAYS: Actor June Lockhart of Lassie and Lost in Space is 98. Singer Carly Simon is 80. Actor-comedian Jimmie Walker is 76. Keyboardist David Paich of Toto is 69. Jazz pianist Dave Grusin is 89. Singer Billy Davis Jr. of the Fifth Dimension is 85. Singer-songwriter Patty Smyth is 66. Married to retired tennis player John McEnroe since 1997. Singer Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys is 81. Country singer Lorrie Morgan is 64. Comedian-director Mel Brooks is 97. Actor Kathy Bates is 75. Actor Gary Busey is 79. The Buddy Holly Story. Guitarist Hal Lindes of Dire Straits is 70. Comedian Richard Lewis is 76. Drummer Ian Paice of Deep Purple is 75. Actor Leslie Caron is 92. Actor Jamie Farr is 89. Dancer Twyla Tharp is 82. Actor Genevieve Bujold is 81. Singer Deborah Harry of Blondie is 78. Singer Fred Schneider of the B-52′s is 72. Actor Marla Gibbs is 92. Singer Janet Lennon of The Lennon Sisters is 77. Actor John Goodman is 71. Guitarist Barry Melton of Country Joe and the Fish is 76. Singer Boy George of Culture Club is 62. Actor Gena Rowlands is 93. Singer Spanky McFarlane of Spanky and Our Gang is 81. Classical pianist Andre Watts is 77. Home repair show host Bob Vila is 77.
TV anchor Hannah Storm is 61. Bassist Michael Anthony of Van Halen & Chickenfoot is 69. The actors Ashley and Mary Kate Olsen are 37. Bassist John Taylor of Duran Duran is 63. Sex therapist and media personality Dr. Ruth Westheimer is 95. Actor Bruce Dern is 87. Actor Dan Aykroyd is 71. Actor Tom Cruise is 61. Singer Victor Willis (policeman or naval officer) of the Village People is 72. Actor Pamela Anderson is 56. Model-actor Jerry Hall is 67. Actor Michael Cole of The Mod Squad is 83. Country singer Johnny Lee is 77. Lookin’ for Love, One in a Million, Pickin’ Up Strangers, Save the Last Chance.
Oscar winning actor Alan Arkin died at 89. We all know what a fabulous actor he was but were you aware that in the 1950’s, Arkin won scholarships to many drama colleges but instead dropped out and formed a folk music band in 1955 called The Tarriers. One year later, they had a huge hit with their version of The Banana Boat Song. About that same time, Harry Belafonte recorded his version, Day-O, which was also a hit.
The Battleship of Texas is back in Galveston with a new exhibit to celebrate its legacy. July 1, until January 31, 2024, at the Galveston Railroad Museum, while the ship is undergoing renovations in the Galveston Ship Channel.
A very frantic and scared woman on an American Airlines flight leaving DFW caused hours of delay after she claimed that someone or something at the back of the plane was “not real,” urging everyone to get off the plane or die. Many on the plane were convinced that she actually saw something and was truly distressed. Now I’m reading that stand-up comedian and actor Scott Thompson, aka Carrot Top, was actually on that same flight. Hmmm. A United Airlines flight from Houston to Amsterdam made an unscheduled landing in Chicago because an unruly passenger in business class was livid over the fact his first choice of a meal was not available (and he could have been a little intoxicated.)
Clute has the Mosquito Festival, known far and wide for being a really clever reason for a festival (July 27 – 29, featuring Tilluride, Bluewater Highway, Profugos de Nuevo Leon, Secretto, Bri Bagwell, Josh Abbott Band and Bag of Donuts). Freeport just had their great Fishin’ Fiesta. While I was reading All Recipes magazine, I saw where downtown Pittsburgh has Picklesburg, a family friendly celebration of all things pickled July 21-23. Pickled food and drink, pickled-themed souvenirs, live music, and a pickle juice-drinking contest, along with a giant Heinz pickle balloon soaring overhead. Clever, but they don’t have Bluewater Highway or Willie-Man-Chew. 😊
A New Jersey man has been fined after he had 32 trees, some as old as 150 years old, cut down from his neighbor’s property without a permit so he would have a better view of the Manhattan skyline. He has been fined $32,000 ($1000 per tree – big deal) so far, but an ordinance states that if a tree is illegally removed, the person who did the removal is obligated to replace it with another tree exactly like it or even a superior species. That’s hard. The site where the oaks, maples and birch trees lived would require a road, new soil, nurturing and watering the trees for two years, then cleanup (they left the fallen trees on the property.) Estimates for replanting the trees could be up to $1.5 million. The man also faces a trespassing charge because, well, it wasn’t his property.
Hope begins in the dark – the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. Anne Lamott
In my kitchen and bathrooms, I have had a fly problem lately. Connie told me to get something specific at Walmart, but obviously I wasn’t listening, and I bought something different called Terro Fruit Fly Traps that look like little plastic apples that you fill with something that smells like apple cider vinegar. But it only got rid of just three flies. So, the next time Connie was at the store, she went ahead and bought me the ($19.97) ZEVO Indoor Flying Insect Traps. It has a sticky strip and a blue UV light you plug into your light socket. It’s actually magic and quite nice looking. On the first day I had seven flies trapped, begging for me to unpeel them. I didn’t. It’s really good, just in case you have flies at your house… Thank you, Connie. When the sticky sheet gets full, then just pop in a refill cartridge. Now, if I can just get rid of the ants that came in with the last rain. It’s always something.
If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door. Milton Berle
Former President Donald Trump posted what he claimed was the home address of former President Barack Obama. On the same day, a man who participated in the January 6, 2021 riot, was arrested near that property with guns found in his vehicle. Doesn’t Trump understand that’s why you take the mailing labels off the magazines before you give them away. 😊
The upgraded Brazosport CAER (Community Awareness and Emergency Awareness and Emergency Response) siren system will now run a test each Monday at noon in our county. The system has been upgraded to newer technology which will sound different and cover a broader area.
If you love cruises, Christmas and the Hallmark Channel, good news. Hallmark Channel announced TODAY its new Christmas Holiday Cruise, set for November 5-9, 2024, with rooms available for as little as $950 per person with two guests. More next week.
A former Air Force sergeant solicited 93 women before he found one who would enter into a special “sugar daddy (but no sex)” marriage, so that he could get Pentagon spousal housing payments while he was stationed overseas. Getting married wasn’t the worst part of his crime, he lied under oath that his bride was living in San Francisco, which meant a much higher stipend than her actual residence in Texas.
There is a song/album from 1979 called The Day the Earth Caught Fire, by City Boy. I don’t know why, perhaps because the Earth seems to be on fire lately, but I thought about it and listened to it this week. It’s a good rock group with a song that seems appropriate for us right now. …abandoned cars that lay too tired to drive away, A World in Flames Today was all the papers had to say, run for your life, The Earth’s caught fire, run, run, run… Thanks for reading this week. Don’t turn your AC too cool. Remember our sweet grid.
😊 LISA
Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com
