Archive for the ‘History’ Category

10/27/2002 “Truths”   Leave a comment

It’s seems to be an appropriate time for a few truths. We get so much BS from the Media and advertisers that many times we really aren’t sure what’s true and what’s not. Let me lay some truths on you today for a change. These are listed in no particular order.

  • Most American car horns honk in the key of F.
  • Silly Putty was the result of a failed attempt by General Electric to create a synthetic rubber for use in World War II.
  • A bank in Vernal, Utah, was built from bricks delivered by the U.S. Postal Service in 1916. The builders discovered that it was cheaper to mail them then to ship them from Salt Lake City.
  • Carl Hubbard is the only person inducted into three different sports halls of fame: baseball, college football, and Pro football.
  • The final resting place of Dr. Eugene Shoemaker, a geologist, is the moon. He arranged to have his ashes placed on board the Lunar Prospector spacecraft that was launched on January 6, 1998.
  • The “Too T TrappeR” is a charcoal filter shaped like a seat cushion that’s designed to silence and deodorizing any unwanted fart’s. It comes in gray or black and makes a rather awkward Christmas gift.

  • In days past, the term boner referred to a person who was a textile worker who inserted stays into women’s corsets and brassieres.
  • The only marsupial that is native to North America is the Virginia opossum.
  • Americans drink 50 times more soda now than they did a century ago.
  • It takes about 2,893 licks to get to the center of a typical Tootsie Pop.
  • The longest overdue book in the United States is 145 years (in Ohio). The longest in the world is 288 years (in Germany).
  • Breast reduction is the fifth most popular plastic surgery procedure for men.

QUOTATION OF THE DAY

“Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hard-working, honest Americans.

It’s the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then, we elected them.”

Lily Tomlin

10/25/2022 Economics & Apathy   2 comments

Yesterday I posted a long list of annoyances and if you noticed I never once mentioned politicians or politics. Political annoyances should not be grouped with the regular life annoyances because annoying politics and politicians is serious business. Not only does it impact our life in a number of ways it’s just another excuse for the powers that be to dip their hands into our pockets and take more of our money.

Are you as sick of this nonsense as I am? Sick of all these less than truthful politicians beating our brains out every day with more BS than any human being should be forced to listen to. It’s not just the current batch but everyone for the last 30 years who have permitted overspending without much of a thought. They’ve allowed huge government programs costing trillions of dollars to fund the numerous wars like the alleged War on Poverty (which we lost), the alleged War on Drugs (which we lost), and dozens of other alleged wars that were totally or partially unsuccessful. As an aside, hundreds and thousands of our young service men and women have been killed, wounded, or permanently damaged by PTSB. Remember this as you listen to our brave politicos sitting in their safe offices making life and death decisions for everyone else. Am I bitter? You bet your ass I am.

WE THE PEOPLE must take our share of the blame. We elected these fools over and over again because they brought home the “pork” for us locally. Know your history and read these few thoughts from our founding fathers.

“Rather go to bed supperless than rise in Debt” Benjamin Franklin, 7 July 1757

” I sincerely believe. . . and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding is but swindling futurity on a large scale.” Thomas Jefferson, 28 May 1816

IS THIS SYSTEM FIXABLE? I HAVE MY DOUBTS

10/23/2022 “Voter Assistance”   2 comments

I’ve been around the planet just long enough to have allowed at least 10,000 politicians to tell me things that I knew were untrue and I was sure they knew it too. Not just Democrats and Republicans but Independents, Greenies, and Nut-bags. I’ve watched more than my share of debates, listen to the all-knowing Mainstream Media television pundits, and was assured that the polls they all quoted were legitimate. Am I stupid or what?

The following list was put together some time ago by a disgruntled voter who actually had the gall to ask politicians for their thoughts on these topics. The list hasn’t changed in 15 years and yet we still never get answers.

  • You can get arrested for expired tags on your car but not for being in the country illegally.
  • Your government believes that the best way to eradicate trillions of dollars of debt is to spend trillions more of our money.
  • Children are forcibly removed from parents who appropriately discipline them while children of “underprivileged” drug addicts are left to rot in filthy surroundings.
  • Hard work and success are rewarded with higher taxes and government intrusion, while slothful, lazy behavior is rewarded with EBT cards, WIC checks, Medicaid, and subsidized housing.
  • The government’s plan for getting people back to work is to provide endless weeks of unemployment checks (to not work).

*****

  • Some politicians think that stripping away the amendments to the Constitution is really protecting the rights of the people.
  • The rights of the government come before the rights of the individual.
  • Being stripped of the ability to defend yourself makes you “safe” (gun ownership).
  • You have to have your parent signature to go on a school field trip but not to get an abortion.
  • And 80-year-old woman can be strip-searched by the TSA but a Muslim woman wearing a burka is only subject to having her neck and head searched.

*****

Elections are coming. Question the government inequities and closely examine every word that comes out of the mouth of every candidate. Double speak is the tool of the untrustworthy.

INFLATION IS NOT OUR FRIEND MR. BIDEN

10/22/2022 Law Enforcement   Leave a comment

As I was rummaging through my collection of books I discovered one I forgot I had. It was buried beneath a pile of other useless information. It’s called Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader and I gave it a quick read. Being a former cop and an employee of the Maine Criminal Justice System, I tend to read things about the courts and laws before anything else and I’m glad I did. The Bathroom Reader made me aware of some strange and ridiculous laws from around the country. Here are just a few.

  • The law prohibits barbers in Omaha, Nebraska, from shaving the chests of customers.
  • In St. Louis Missouri, it’s illegal for you to drink beer out of a bucket while you’re sitting on a curb.
  • In cotton Valley, Louisiana, law forbids cows and horses from sleeping in a bakery.
  • The maximum penalty for double parking in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is working on a chain gang with nothing to eat but bread and water.
  • In the state of Alabama, it’s illegal to play dominoes on a Sunday.

  • In Las Vegas Nevada, it’s against the law to pawn your dentures.
  • If your 88 years of age or older, it’s illegal for you to ride your motorcycle in Idaho Falls, Idaho.
  • In California, it’s illegal to hunt whales from your automobile. It’s also against the law to use your dirty underwear as a dust rag.
  • It’s illegal to sleep with your boots on in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
  • In Natoma, Kansas it’s illegal to throw knives at men wearing striped suits.

These 10 items are mild compared to some of the others I’ve seen over the years. We Americans are great at passing a law after law but very lax in eliminating silly crap like this from the rolls. I’m going to make an effort to finds a few that are even crazier than the ones you just read.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE, MY ASS

10/21/2022 “Useless Info”   Leave a comment

Here is your daily collection of somewhat interesting useless information. Read, learn, and pass it along to friends, family and coworkers. I’m sure they’ll appreciate receiving them as much as you do receiving it from me. LOL

  • Too much coffee can kill you. A lethal dose of caffeine for the average adult is approximately 10 grams, or the equivalent of drinking between 50 and 200 cups of coffee in rapid succession.
  • The largest human cell is the female ovum. The smallest is the male sperm.
  • Mosquito repellent doesn’t repel mosquitoes. It only blocks their sensors so that they don’t know you’re there.
  • Members of the U.S. Congress are the world’s highest-paid legislators.
  • The bristled toothbrush originated in China around the year 1498. The bristles, fixed to a bamboo or bone handle, were neck hairs from Siberian boars.

*****

  • One of the holiest Christian holidays is named after a pagan goddess. The word Easter derives from the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre, who governed the vernal equinox.
  • In 1659, the Massachusetts General Court ordered a five shilling fine to be paid by anyone caught celebrating Christmas. The ban was revoked in 1681.
  • In his role as James Bond, the super spy, Sean Connery wore a toupee to hide his receding hairline.
  • Artists have more sexual partners. Researchers suggest that creative people excel at attracting mates, acting on sexual impulses, and doing more than their share of ensuring species survival because they often display “schizotypal” characteristics which are the positive side of schizophrenic personality traits.
  • Wedding rings date back thousands of years. The ancient Romans and Egyptians both believe that a vein called the vena amoria ran directly from the ring finger to the heart.

MORE INFORMATION FROM YOUR FAVORITE “SCHIZO”

10/20/2022 **Limerick Alert**   Leave a comment

I’m feeling in a very ‘limericky’ state of mind this morning. It’s cold, gray, and nasty so a day sitting at the computer is called for. After perusing through my achieves I decided on a few fairly clean limericks based on accidental deaths or injuries. Rather than be off color I decided on weird and these got it covered and then some.

*****

There was an old lady named Crockett

Who went to put a plug in a socket.

But her hands were so wet

She flew up like a jet

And came roaring back down like a rocket.

*****

There was a young fellow named Weir,

Who hadn’t an atom of fear.

He indulged a desire

To touch a live wire

(‘Most any old line will do here!)

*****

Said a foolish young lady of Wales,

“A smell of escaped gas prevails.”

Then she searched with a light,

And later that night

Was collected in seventeen pails.

*****

A certain young man of great gumption,

‘Mongst cannibals had the presumption

To go – but alack!

He never came back,

They say ’twas a case of consumption.

*****

WELCOME BACK TO A 1960’S SENSE OF HUMOR

10/18/2022 Mish Mosh   Leave a comment

Any day that starts with a visit to an Oncologist is a day that has to get better. Doctors still give me the willies even after all of my cancer related BS. I got a clean bill of health but I still have to go through their annoying little requirements each time I visit. Screw it, no more doctors talk. Let’s smile just a little with a few retro bumper stickers to get started today. Welcome back to the 60’s and 70’s.

EAT YOUR HEART OUT. I’M MARRIED.

LIFE’S TO SHORT TO FEEL GUILTY

BUMPER STICKERS ARE JUST NOT ENOUGH

I’M SO BROKE I CAN’T EVEN PAY ATTENTION

GOD IS COMING AND SHE’S PISSED OFF

Look Out Ladies – Here I come.

I think I had one or two of those on my 1973 orange Gremlin. I sure miss that car. And just for the hell of it here is a rather lengthy epithet from a fine poet in Wolverhampton, Straffordshire, England. I’m guessing this was written sometime between 1845-1855. It’s obvious that the author was no Longfellow.

Here lies the bones of Joseph Jones

Who ate while he was able.

But once o’er fed he dropt down dead,

And fell beneath the table.

When from the tomb to meet his doom

He rises amidst the sinners.

Since he must dwell in heav’n or hell

Take him – which gives the best dinners.

T.G.I.N.M,T,or W.

10/15/2022 “History of Women’s Rights”   1 comment

I thought I would supply all of my female readers with a few interesting historical facts from the early days of women’s rights. These women were the steppingstones that your gender walked on to get where it’s at today. Enjoy the history lesson.

  • To prove that girls could master such subjects as mathematics and philosophy without detracting from their health or charm, Emma Hart Willard founded the Troy (NY) Female Seminary, in 1821.
  • Not until 1932 was a woman elected to the Senate. She was Hatty Caraway, Arkansas Democrat. The first appointed woman senator was Rebecca Felton, a Georgia Democrat, in 1922.
  • No woman held a Presidential cabinet position until 1933, when Francis Perkins became Secretary of Labor and she served a dozen years. Before her appointment in Washington, Ms. Perkins was an industrial commissioner for New York State.
  • Mercy Otis Warren ( 1728 – 1814), at a time when women rarely played any part in public life, she became a propagandist for the US revolutionary cause, a confidant of John Adams, and an admired ally of most of the Massachusetts rebel leaders. She was a pioneer feminist who argued that women’s alleged weaknesses were due simply to inferior education.
  • At a time when the education of girls in most prominent families which concentrated on needlework, music, dancing, and languages, Aaron Burr insisted that his daughter, Theodosia, learn serious subjects rather than ornamental ones “to convince the world what neither sex appears to believe – that women have souls!”
  • For founding a birth-control clinic, in 1917, Margaret Sanger was jailed for a month in a workhouse.

ENJOY YOUR WEEKEND

10/13/2022 “More Retro Limericks”   Leave a comment

I love reading limericks written in a totally different time and place. Today’s selection is from the war years in England. Even with all of the violence and mayhem going on they took time to maintain a sense of humor. Thank god for sex and it’s related activities, it’s all they had.

****

1941

There was a young lady named Nelly

Whose tits could be joggled like jelly.

They could tickle her twat,

Or be tied in a knot,

And they could even swat flies on her belly.

****

1943

There was a young man from Narragansett

Who colored his prick to enhance it.

But the girls were afraid

That ere they get laid

T’would lose all its color in transit

****

1945

A detective named Ellery Queen

Has olfactory powers so keen,

He can tell in a flash

By the scent of a gash

Who its previous tenant had been.

****

1941

19There was a young girl named Regina

Who called in a water diviner,

To play a slick trick

With his prick as a stick,

To help her locate her vagina.

****

KEEPING WAR TIME MORALE AS HIGH AS POSSIBLE

10/12/2022 “More Malaprops”   Leave a comment

MALAPROPS: A variety of verbal miscues from Grade

School, High School and College Examinations.

  • Johan Sebastian Bach wrote a great many musical compositions and had a large number of children. In between he practiced on the old spinster which he kept up in the attic.
  • The government of Athens was Democratic because the people took the law into their own hands.
  • Solomon, one of David’s sons, had 500 wives and 500 porcupines.
  • People have sex, while nouns have genders.
  • The American colonists won the Revolutionary war and no longer had to pay for taxis.
  • The bowels are A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y.
  • He worked in the government as a civil serpent.

ISN’T EDUCATION WONDERFUL?

  • A horse divided against itself cannot stand.
  • The climate of the Sahara desert is so hot that certain areas are cultivated by irritation.
  • Charles Darwin wrote The Organ of the Species.
  • When a baby is born, the doctor cuts its biblical chord.
  • The Greeks invented three kinds of columns: Corinthian, Doric, and Ironic.
  • Brigham Young led the Morons to Utah.

THANK GOD I NEVER TOOK UP TEACHING