What I Heard This Week 11-10-2022
When we were kids, we all joked about the dog eating our homework. It seemed funny then. Some of us may have even tried that theory as adults, except now we can blame Alexa for giving us the wrong answers. Sunday evening when I left the office, I was about halfway finished writing this column. I headed for home because it was after 8pm, dark outside (daylight saving time over) and terribly deserted downtown. I had also been cleaning here, so I grabbed my vacuum cleaner, my dog, and I left; very satisfied that I would have time to finish the column on Monday and have it ready for sending it back to Tina. Actually, it was a super good feeling because I had several other things I needed to work on. I arrived here Monday morning to find that my computer had gotten tired, shut itself off and had not saved the document. Column could not be found. Not trusting myself, I encouraged Tina, who is way smarter about things like this, to come and search for me. So, at 4:19 on Monday afternoon, I am telling you that the dog ate my homework. Shame on you, Teller. Let’s see if I can pull together some trivial fluff and useless information for your reading pleasure and hope you might consider it worthwhile, if not I get another chance next week. That’s the nicest part about a newspaper. You always get another chance next week. You know, sometimes you are the cat and sometimes you are the hairball.
Happy 247th Birthday to the United States Marine Corps. To put this into perspective, the United States of America turned 246 years old on July 4th, 2022, of this year.
You recognize the little Parade magazine that is inserted into newspapers each week. I pulled mine out of The Chronicle on Sunday and read all about Hugh Jackman, but my eye was drawn to the corner of the page. It was a notification that their next paper edition (November 13) will be their final print edition but noted there will still be an easy-to-read digital format of Parade available. Easy-to-read digital format. Aaugh. The end of an era. I understand how and why, but I still love holding a piece of paper in my hand. Obviously. Oh, it also said that Hugh Jackman has a new movie out with limited release November 11th, The Son, about a father juggling his job, romantic partner, new baby, and teenage son who’s come to live with them. You know, sounds like a story about real life. I really do like Hugh Jackman. I was fortunate to see him in New York at the Circle in the Square when he starred in The River, which was wonderful. He owns a line of coffees and coffee shops in NY called Laughing Man Coffee, where he donates his proceeds to needy kids. The article said he worked as a gym teacher and birthday party entertainer before his career took off. He was Coco the Clown. There was more, but you’ll just have to look it up on their easy-to-read digital format. ☹
Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters. Abraham Lincoln (National Union Party)
A group of researchers recently injected two human volunteers with about two spoonsful of blood that was grown entirely in a laboratory setting. This is a first. After four months, the volunteers will receive another injection, this time of donated, natural human blood. If the volunteers don’t reject the artificial donation, it could be a pivotal moment, allowing for an opportunity to increase supplies of previously ultra-rare, hard to find blood types, and perhaps one day for smaller full transfusions. I wasn’t aware that when astronauts return from space, they are treated like a person coming back with an injury because they all are anemic. Anemia happens when the body lacks enough red blood cells to carry oxygen to the body’s tissues. A healthy adult human body has about 35 trillion red blood cells, with at least 2 million destroyed every second. In space, about 3 million red blood cells are destroyed every second, causing astronauts to lose about 54% more blood cells than on Earth. There you go.
RECENT BIRTHDAYS: Country singer-songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard is 76. Actor Whoopi Goldberg is 67. Actor Gerard Butler is 53. Guitarist James Young of Styx is 73. Musician Stephen Bishop is 71. His biggest hits include On and On, It Might Be You, and Save It for a Rainy Day. Pianist Yanni is 68. Rapper Reverend Run of Run-DMC is 58. British Pop Singer Petula Clark is 90. Downtown, Don’t Sleep on the Subway Baby. Actor Sam Waterston of Grace and Frankie & Law and Order is 82. Singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad of ABBA is 77. Actor Beverly D’Angelo of National Lampoon’s Vacation is 71. Bandleader Kevin Eubanks of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is 65. Jazz singer Diana Krall is 58. Singer Gordon Lightfoot is 84. Singer-songwriter Bob Gaudio of The Four Seasons is 81. Movie director Martin Scorsese is 80. Actor & Model Lauren Hutton is 79. Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels is 78.
Entertainer RuPaul is 62. Actor-director Danny DeVito is 78. Musician Joey Williams of The Blind Boys of Alabama is 60. Actor-model Daisy Fuentes is 56. Actor Brenda Vaccaro is 83. Before Michael Douglas married Catherine Zeta-Jones in 2000, he had a “hippie wedding” with Brenda Vaccaro. Actor Linda Evans of Dynasty is 80. Country singer Jacky Ward is 76. Fools Fall in Love. Actor Jameson Parker of Simon and Simon is 75. Singer Graham Parker is 72. Actor Owen Wilson is 54. Talk show host Dick Cavett is 86. Media mogul Ted Turner is 84. Fashion designer Calvin Klein is 80. Sportscaster Ahmad Rashad is 73. Journalist Ann Curry is 66. Actor Meg Ryan is 61. Actor Jodie Foster is 60.
Dida, Africa’s largest female tusker elephant has died, believed to be between 60 and 65 years old. Dida was considered the matriarch of Tsavo East National Park in Kenya. Tusker elephants have tusks so large and long they scrape the ground, and tusks are especially unusual for the females. There are only about 25 or so tusker elephants left in the world.
Dan McCafferty, original and longtime lead singer for the Scottish hard rock band Nazareth died at 76. English actor Leslie Phillips, known for many roles including voicing, with wit and style, the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter series, died at 98. Pop star and actor Aaron Carter, known for songs including Aaron’s Party and That’s How I Beat Shaq, died at 34. He was the brother of Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys and was just nine years old when he began performing professionally, singing as an opening act for his brother’s group. Ray Guy, legendry Hall of Fame punter for Oakland and LA Raiders, died at 72. Many consider him to be the greatest punter in NFL history.
Andrew Prine, character actor known especially for Westerns, died at 86. He was Helen Keller’s brother in The Miracle Worker in 1962, Richard Kimble’s brother on The Fugitive, and appeared in more than 80 Western TV shows and movies like Bandolero and Chisum. (He was quite handsome too.) Daniel Smith, American civil rights activist and believed to be the last living child of a formerly enslaved American, died at 90. When Smith was born in 1932, his father was about 70 years old and had been born into slavery in 1862 or 1863. Smith jokingly called himself the Black Forrest Gump, since he was present at so many key historical moments during his lifetime. Patrick Haggerty, singer, and guitarist recruited friends to form the band Lavender Country in 1973. The band is believed to be the first openly gay country music band. He suffered a stroke and died at 78. “I am, at this point, a country music item of note,” Haggerty said. “I never dreamt that would happen, but it did. And I don’t have to make any compromises. I get to be the socialist loudmouth that I am and have a career in country music, too. And it doesn’t get better than that, man.”
A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user. Theodore Roosevelt (Republican turned Progressive)
Texas A&M allegedly suspended three freshmen members of the football team indefinitely because of a post-game locker room incident following the Aggies’ 30-24 loss to South Carolina Gamecocks. I can’t seem to find what happened in the locker room (details for incident still unclear…) but good job to the coach. Consequences. There’s not enough of them in the world right now. Fisher said that they keep all details in-house and internal. It will come out.
Your morning cup of coffee may be linked to a lower mortality risk according to a recent study. It did not elaborate on cup size and the use of artificial sweeteners (remember a level teaspoon of REAL sugar has only 4 grams of sugar in it) or let’s say, if your morning coffee just happens to be a tall Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks with 34 grams of sugar. Common sense. Since everything seems to be open to interpretation now, please remember that Mary Poppins may be wrong.
To win the people, always cook them some savoury that pleases them. Aristophanes, The Knights
Have you ever been to IKEA? It is an experience not easy to explain… a pretty amazing place and the Swedish meatballs are delicious. Last night I started watching a documentary about IKEA. It’s pretty interesting, especially with my daughter having an Industrial Design degree. (But the real reason I started watching it was because I fall asleep when I get in bed, and I figured it would be easy to go back and catch up on what I miss when I snooze.) They were discussing sustainability, so I Googled IKEA and up popped this story. Over the course of one year, a former marketing guy managed to film 7 episodes of a soap opera spoof at IKEA, and no one noticed until the parody of generic daytime soaps called IKEA Heights aired. Each episode was only about five minutes, but still. It has ridiculous romance, drama, an amnesia plotline, and an occasional murder. So, if you have an extra 35 minutes in your life, you can binge-watch it online according to the internet.
Voting is not a right. It is a method used to determine which politician was most able to brainwash you. Dennis E. Adonis
How I spend my time since my children left for college. My cats know how to sit for a treat. My kids said that you can’t teach a cat to sit, but I did. Three cats. Three times. Then Teller came into my life. Every morning I get down on the floor in my pajamas and set out three different cans of dog food in a line, then I call Teller to come. I have worked so hard to teach him how to pick the can of food that he wants to eat. I use the word paw, then I place his paw on a can, and get all excited like he picked it himself, then he gets confused and tries to shake my hand. We go at this 4-5 times. A day. He’s so cute, but every morning I’m discouraged that he just doesn’t get it. But I keep trying. Today Teller got it! I set out the cans and asked him which one he wanted, and he put his paw on one. First time. I was so excited, we danced around the kitchen telling him how great he is. So, then I sent my kids a text.
It said: “FYI. This morning, Teller picked the can of dog food he wanted. Yeahhhhhh. I have been working so hard on teaching him this trick. I’m so proud of him.”
Anne Elisabeth responded but it was about his nose freckle, so she was unimpressed. I could see her rolling her eyes. Gage did not and has not responded yet. I’m thinking, obviously, I’m going to have to be more impressive with my words, so I say:
“I would let you talk to him but he’s busy looking at college handbooks right now. He says his next step in education needs to be something besides home schooling.”
No response at all.
So, then I say: “Oh, goodness. He just asked me how to spell university.”
I’m still waiting for a response. It’s just so hard to impress these kids lately. Have a great weekend!
LISA
Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com
