DWTS Season 9

Here are the dancers for the new season:

Aaron Carter and Karina Smirnoff
Natalie Coughlin and Alec Mazo
Mark Decascos and Lacey Schwimmer
Tom DeLay and Cheryl Burke
Macy Gray and Jonathan Roberts
Ashley Hamilton and Edyta Sliwinska
Melissa Joan Hart and Mark Ballas
Kathy Ireland and Tony Dovolani
Michael Irvin and Anna Demidova
Joanna Krupa and Derek Hough
Chuck Liddell and Anna Trebunskaya
Debi Mazar and Maksim Chmerkovskiy
Mya and Dmitry Chaplin
Kelly Osbourne and Louis Van Amstel
Donny Osmond and Kym Johnson
Louie Vito and Chelsie Hightower

Tonight the men dancetestants were showcased. I don't know who all of them are but will get to know the ones who stick around a while. Let's hope one of those isn't Tom DeLay. I already know as much about him as I care to. They're doing ballroom and Latin dances tonight. It's the first time they've done two dances the first night.

Aaron Carter (ADHD Kid) was so excited to dance with Karina during rehearsal that I wasn't sure he'd be able to concentrate on anything else. He did the cha-cha well, though, and the judges said he has potential. Apparently, he's been a performer since he was eight years old. I didn't know. (score 22 + 10 = 32)

Chuck Liddell is a mixed martial artist. Since I don't watch that, I don't know who he is, either. He did a sort of stiff foxtrot with Anna doing most of the dancing, but there's something endearing about how hard he tried. (score 16 + 6 = 22)

Mark Dacascos is a martial artist and on Iron Chef. Lacey worked with him on the cha-cha, and he just might be a contender. He moves and has rhythm! It was a little awkward in places but good for the first time! (score 21 + 8 = 29)

Ashley Hamilton, actor and comedian, is George Hamilton's son (and Alana Stewart's) and was married briefly to Shannon Doherty and Angie Everhart (I googled). George and Alana were in the audience. Edyta danced with his father. Ashley was stiff but said he'd been in a motorcycle accident years ago, had brain surgery, was in a wheelchair for a year and a half, and thought he'd never walk again. Considering that, he did pretty well. (score 15 + 4 = 19)

Donny Osmond danced the foxtrot with Kym really well. So far he's the best one on there. Of course, he knows how to sell it to the audience. Marie was there cheering him on along with his wife. (score 20 + 10 = 30) Lower than I thought the foxtrot should be.

Louie Vito is a snowboarder (Yea! I'll see him in the Olympics) and knows nothing about dancing but is highly competitive. Well, his foxtrot with Chelsie was stiff and self-conscious. He's cute and personable, and being an Olympian he will do his best to improve. He has potential. (score 19 + 8 = 27)

Michael Irvin, of NFL Hall of Fame and Super Bowl fame, is on because of rivalry with Jerry Rice. He knows Rice's scores on all his dances and wants to do at least a point better. Funny! He said he needs to get a 22 on his cha-cha because Jerry got a 21 on his. He has some good moves, but Anna is doing most of the dancing. I don't believe he's going to do it this time, but he has potential, charm, and charisma. (score 13 + 6 = 19)


Tom DeLay danced a cha-cha to "Wild Thing" and mostly walked through it and did a few moves that creeped me out. Cheryl won't be able to do enough to get him very far in this competition. (score 16 + 4 = 20)








Next everyone is doing a first-ever relay dance. They are in groups of four with the judges ranking them.

First Group - Salsa: 1 - Donny (10) 2 - Louie (8) 3 - Chuck (6) 4 - Ashley (4),

Second Group - Viennese Waltz: 1 - Aaron (10) 2- Mark (8) 3 - Michael (6) 4 - Tom (4)

For the record and to brag, I called all these in the order the judges did. Watching all these seasons of DWTS I've learned something! The best and ones with most potential are Aaron, Donny, Mark, and Louie. Chuck and Michael are determined and might improve the way others have. We'll see.

During the Emmys

Since many of you don't watch, don't care, and/or wait to see who won, I'll report on the show for you. This isn't a recap - just a summary. We know who the Magnificent Recapper Extraordinaire is - David Dust! I'm just typing while watching it.

Neil Patrick Harris as host - great idea with a few hits and misses. Was that handsome hot guy sitting next to him when his category was announced his partner?

Kristin Chenoweth won for Supporting Actress in Pushing Daisies, which was the only show of its kind with a quirky premise, outstanding cast, and colorful set. So of course ABC canceled it. This picture is when she was with Aaron Sorkin. I mention him later.


Toni Collette won Lead Actress for United States of Tara which Diablo Cody writes. Wonder if she'll get the Emmy for that? It's on Showtime, so I've never seen it - just excerpts. Wonder Man wrote about a horror film that Diablo Cody wrote that's out now - Jennifer's Body. I'm a horror movie wimp and will have to see on DVD if I watch it.


So far the Emmys are funnier than I usually remember the show being. Or maybe because it's just been the comedy categories.

Jon Cryer won Supporting Actor for Two and a Half Men.

Alec Baldwin won Lead Actor. He's good on 30 Rock, but I hoped Jim Parsons would win for being Sheldon on Big Bang Theory. 30 Rock wins many many awards, but I've never been as into it as others. I have a long list of those shows, though.

The Family Guy bit wasn't funny. Maybe I'm glad I don't watch it.

This is a good idea. They have divided awards into categories. Comedy and now Reality. I like it.

Maksim and Karina are dancing, and they broke their engagement but still dance together quite well.


Crap! Jeff Probst won for best reality show host for Survivor. I was hoping for Tom Bergeron because he does so well on DWTS or for Heidi because we know how well she does on Project Runway. But no! He or that Amazing Race guy usually win. I like reality shows about people who actually have a talent and can do things. The Amazing Race won again for reality show. I don't get it. I've watched some of it, but it doesn't appeal to me that much.

Movies and Miniseries

Shohreh Aghdashloo - Supporting Actress for House of Saddam, which I watched on HBO. She's standing at Sadam's right.


Ken Howard - Supporting Actor for Grey Gardens. Funny bit when he said he would make his speech brief in the hope it wouldn't be interrupted by a congressman or rapper. He thanked a stunt woman who gave him a kidney. I didn't realize that happened.

Brendan Gleeson - Lead Actor for Into the Storm. I didn't see that even though it was on HBO. Maybe I can watch it on On Demand, or they might bring it back.

Little Dorritt won for writing and directing. The director is a woman Dearbhla Walsh, an Irish lesbian, I think, since she thanked her partner and the camera panned to the woman who sat beside her.

Jessica Lange - Lead Actress for Grey Gardens which also won for Best Movie Made for TV.


Little Dorritt won for Outstanding Miniseries. Generation Kill was nominated. Remember Eric?

Variety

Various winners for directing, writing, and show are American Idol, The Daily Show.

Drama

Michael Emerson - Supporting Actor in Lost. He does creepy well.

Cherry Jones - Supporting Actress for 24. She's from Paris, Tennessee, and has been in a relationship with Sarah Paulson for a long time. Despite what my son says about it, I liked Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Yeah, it could have been better, but I like Aaron Sorkin's mediocre writing better than many writers' best efforts.


Guest Actor - Michael J. Fox for Rescue Me

Guest Actress - Ellen Burstyn for Law & Order: SVU

Directing - Rod Holcomb for ER

Writing - Kater Gordon and Matthew Weiner for Mad Men (good speech)

Lead Actress - Glenn Close for Damages (I can't watch that show because her character is evil and horribly mean with no redeeming qualities - I tried it several episodes but had to quit)

Lead Actor - Brian Cranston in Breaking Bad. (What is this show? He won it last year.)

Outstanding Comedy Series - 30 Rock


Outstanding Drama Series - Mad Men (I missed this from the beginning and am going to have to catch up with DVD's)

New Fall Season

Some of the new shows look pretty good and some will probably be canceled soon. HERE is a list of the schedule. What are you must-see shows and your must-miss?

I plan to watch The Good Wife, mostly because I like Julianna Margulies and Chris Noth, although I'm not sure how often he'll be on it. It reminds me of Canterbury's Law where she played a lawyer, but the premise of this one is different. She's the wife of one of those corrupt politicians who goes back to work while he's in prison.

The Forgotten sounds a lot like Cold Case. I like Christian Slater and will watch the pilot and then decide.

Returning shows I'll be back with are House, Castle, Brothers and Sisters, Bones, Lie to Me, Criminal Minds, The Mentalist, Medium, Ugly Betty, DWTS, How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Army Wives, NUMB3RS, Saving Grace, Leverage, Royal Pains, Rescue Me, and The Closer. Fortunately some of those will be on later since their season is different.


Will Not See: Melrose Place, Heroes, Trauma, 90210, Vampire Diaries (I am tired of vampires), Fringe, Survivor (not going to start now), Ghost Whisperer, and sports until the Olympics are on and will be glued to that.

I'll watch the Law & Orders some and Big Love when it returns. I wish I had Showtime but will order Dexter and other ones from blockbuster.com (No, I have that instead of Netflix).

Somewhere in there I'll have to be sure to see Rachel Maddow and will of course keep up with Project Runway and Top Chef.

Yes, I watch a lot of TV. I have a DVR and use it! I'm retired!

Emmy Night

I'll be here watching the Emmy Awards tonight. What about you? Any predictions? Picks?

Your Moment of Grin

Einstein Quote

The physicists say that I am a mathematician, and the mathematicians say that I am a physicist. I am a completely isolated man and though everybody knows me, there are very few people who really know me.

Hump Trivia

The humps on a camel’s back are not water. They are actually huge heaps of fat and flesh that can weigh as much as 80 pounds in a healthy camel. But the backbone of a camel is straight, not curved. The hump allows a camel to survive an extremely long time (up to two weeks) without food if need be. Because camels typically live in the desert, where food can be scarce for long stretches, this is important.

More info HERE


This reminds me, did any of you besides Charlie watch The Weeping Camel that I told you about? It's an Oscar-winning documentary about a mother camel who rejected her calf and is really good.

Overstayed Their Welcome

Even though I never watched that show, it was impossible not to know who they are. They must not get more attention!

Just Because it's Funny

(Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage of Mythbusters)

New Season

Yes! House is back Monday night for its 6th season!

Piracy Talk

Hey, let's copy some software and not pay anyone for it. (This message brought to you by Talk Like a Pirate Day)

This is from my son Brian. I'm so proud. :-)

Geek Joke

“The world is divided into 10 types of people. Those who understand binary and those who don’t.”

Einstein Quote

One of the strongest motives that lead men to art and science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting desires.

Nativity Trivia

While Rome ruled the world, Jesus Christ, son of Mary, was born in a cave, not in a wooden stable. Caves were used to house animals because they retained heat. A large church is now built over the cave, and people can go inside. The carpenters of Jesus’ day were really stonecutters as wood was not used as widely as it is today. So whenever you see a Christmas nativity scene with a wooden stable, that’s the "American" version, not the Biblical one.

Croc Trivia!

Exhibiting cannibalistic tendencies, a crocodile will occasionally eat other crocodiles.

Strict Baseball Trivia

According to the official rules of baseball, no umpire may be replaced during a game unless he is injured or becomes ill. He may also be replaced if he drops dead.

Project Runway

"I'm woeful, Johnny. Right now it looks like a craft project gone awry."
"I'm incredulous at that utterly preposterous feeling of fiction that Johnny did on the runway. It was ridiculous!"
LOVE Tim Gunn!

And when is Michael Kors coming back?

Now Henry Gibson

Henry Gibson from Laugh-In fame died at 73 from cancer. As we've said before, this is quite a year for celebrity deaths. His best-known film role was in the Robert Altman film Nashville, and he also appeared in other movies and TV shows.

Oh no! Mary Travers!

I just learned on Howard's blog that Mary Travers died from leukemia (so did my father). She was 72. Read his post HERE and listen to some of Peter, Paul, and Mary's music. I've loved them for decades, have everything they recorded, and got to see them in concert several times. I'm so upset and sad about her death that I can't write about it.

I'm So Proud

I hesitate to post this, but this happened in a town in the county where I live. Check out this article HERE and see what I mean. He thought it was a mythical creature, so of course he shot it. Which circle of hell am I in?

Fortunately I have a support group with a 12-Step Program to help us avoid living here in our minds.

Grades

Tina and I were talking on the phone last night about her students, grades, teaching, etc. Our conversation reminded me of an experience I had with a student who was capable but didn't do his homework, study, or turn in all his work. One grading period he went too far and had a really low average. After they got their grades, he called me over and asked incredulously and a bit outraged, "Why did you give me an F?"

Me: "Because that's as low as it goes."

He shut up after that, started doing his work, and made better grades from then on. Sometimes it doesn't work that way. I'm glad it did for him. Teaching teenagers lets us be smart-ass teachers with some of them.

Tank Trivia

Britain developed the first tanks for use during World War I. The word tank was used because it didn’t mean anything, and didn’t give the Germans a clue as to the weapon’s possible use.

Country Bob's

I tried Country Bob's All-Purpose Sauce and like it. They sent me a couple of bottles to try, and I did. So this is a commercial since they asked if I'd write about it on my blog. Their sauce was the right amount of spicy with a good flavor similar to A-1 Sauce but better. I didn't try the barbeque sauce or the spicy sauce and can't vouch for those. Check it out HERE.

RIP

Patrick Swayze died today of pancreatic cancer. He was 57. Here he is dancing with his wife Lisa Niemi.


Larry Gelbart died on the 11th at 81 also of cancer. He wrote Bedazzled, Blame it on Rio, Tootsie, Neighbors, Oh God!, and others with his TV writing credits including M*A*S*H, and Threes Company. He was nominated for two Oscars, 12 Emmy Awards (1 Win), 1 Golden Globe, 3 Tony Award wins, and 8 Writers Guild of America Award nominations, of which he won 7.

The View Rant

The View is nearly always better when Barbara Walters isn't on it. I get so tired of her bringing up how she interviewed someone whenever just about anyone is mentioned. Whoopi has worked with so many actors and is friends with many of the guests. You can tell by how they greet her. Barbara has to horn in about interviewing them. Just because I taught someone doesn't make me part of their family or one of their friends.

Barbara also can't ever let anyone mention a female news anchor without bringing up how she was the first female co-anchor. Yes, we know! We know! And please quit interrupting Whoopi to explain to the audience who someone is and the background of a story! Whoopi is capable of expressing herself really well!

It's been so nice having Elisabeth on maternity leave. I wish she would decide to stay home with the children and let someone else take her place. There are other Conservative women who are not annoying like she is. They've been on there before when she was on leave, and they were so much better than she is. While I'm at it, Sherri, bless her heart, needs to go, too. Boundaries! Please have some! She tries, but I hope her new show will do well enough for her to devote full-time to it.

I'm not sure why I watch that show.

Vote!

There are typos and misinformation as some of you have noticed on the Useless Knowledge section of iGoogle. So this means I either need to stop posting them, google and make sure they are accurate, or just keep on copying and pasting and advise you to take the information with a grain of salt since it's just for entertainment. There won't be a test on it. :-)

TV Trivia

The Untouchables, which debuted in 1959 and starred Robert Stack, was the most violent television show of its time. It became the target of more protests from viewers than any other regular TV series to date. The show was even boycotted by mobsters over alleged unfair treatment.

WWOPD?

I've been thinking about what George W. and Bill Clinton might have done if a Congressman had done what Joe Wilson did during an address to both sessions of Congress. I think W might have made one of his jokes and chuckled. Clinton's face would have turned beet-red and his temper would have flared. Cheney would have shot them in the face and done something unprintable.

What do you think they would have done?

Million Maniac March

Don't these people have a conscience or any sense at all of despicable behavior? These are
the people who didn't want their children to hear the President of the United States speak to them about staying in school, studying, and striving for success, yet they put signs in their hands and ideas in their heads that are deplorable and hateful. You know, it's possible to disagree without being disagreeable. As much as the people who hated everything George W. Bush stood for and said, they never did anything like this. The news didn't even report protests against the Bush administration. Anyone who disagreed with him wasn't allowed in his rallies or events. These "protestors" are as bad as the Westboro Baptist Church and are possibly some of the same people.

Some of this borders on treason and some of it is. Why aren't they arrested? Threats against the President is a serious offense. Why are they being allowed to do it now? This is wrong.

Free Republic founder Jim Robinson attended today's "anti-Obamacare" rally in Washington DC on his Medicaid-provided wheelchair. Robinson does not know the meaning of irony. Source

Biorhythms

Perhaps this explains my lethargy and gives me hope for feeling better. (if only I believed in it)

Physical Emotional Intellectual

Disgraceful!

What's missing here? Respect, dignity, manners, maturity, decorum ...



Instead, what we have is this.



In case any of you missed Craig Ferguson's show, HERE is a link to the entire monologue about Wilson. This is the last half of it. Well done, Craig!

Einstein Quote

How can it be that mathematics, being after all a product of human thought which is independent of experience, is so admirably appropriate to the objects of reality? Is human reason, then, without experience, merely by taking thought, able to fathom the properties of real things.

Who besides Mariana can explain or comment on this quote?

And now for my take on all this ... I have a t-shirt with this on it.

Roger Dodger Trivia

The Brooklyn Dodgers (who later became the Los Angeles Dodgers) did not get their name because of their sporting ability. The term dodger was a shortened form of the term trolley dodgers, which was first used to describe Brooklynites for their ability to avoid being hit by trolley cars.

Reminds me of a flirtation I had in high school with a life guard. We were in the lake under the pier. He was trying to kiss me, and I deflected it and said, "I'm a Dodger fan." His retort was, "I'm a Yankee fan, and they always win." And he did. (Actually I was a Yankee fan, too, but I never let the facts get in the way of a one-liner, so that was win-win.)

Idea

I think we all need to get a grant to study whatever interests us. That one about conception makes me wonder how they conducted that one. Not only do I know from personal experience that it was wrong but agree with Ms. Moon that it's bullshit. What an odd study anyway.

Oh Really Trivia?

The fingernails grow faster on the hand you favor. If you are right-handed, your right fingernails will grow faster, and vice versa. The middle fingernail grows faster than any other nail.

Handy Trivia

Penguins have an organ above their eyes that converts seawater to freshwater.

Einstein Quote

The bigotry of the nonbeliever is for me nearly as funny as the bigotry of the believer.

Conceptual Trivia

Is the thought of having kids stressful? A survey conducted at Iowa State College in 1969 suggested that a parent’s stress at the time of a baby’s conception plays a major role in determining that baby’s sex. The child tended to be of the same sex as the parent who was under less stress.

I remember and don't agree. That's all I'm saying about it.

Killer Trivia

If one places a tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion, it will instantly go mad and sting itself to death.

Government in Action

Joe Wilson looks tame next to these displays. Check out these outbursts HERE from The Daily Beast. Have you seen Parliament? Margaret Thatcher and the ministers were laughing and enjoying their exchanges. Do you prefer the way the Brits do it or how it is here?

Work and Word

I'll be working at the vitamin place this afternoon. Usually I have time to read and check my Blackberry while I'm there. Otherwise, I try not to mess up the cash register, make appointments, and sometimes stock inventory. It's a good very part-time job.

I just made up a word (probably someone else has thought of this, too, but I haven't heard it). To me it means forgetting or ignoring facts and documentation in order to pretend it didn't exist. For example, those people who deny the Holocaust, Obama's birth certificate, and what other ideas do you have for ....

Documentia

Is This True?

It has been declared by Parliament that sending a letter with a postage stamp bearing the likeness of the queen (or king) is an act of treason if the stamp is stuck on upside down.

Hockey Teeth Trivia

According to the Detroit Free Press, 68 percent of professional hockey players have lost at least one tooth.

Einstein Quote

Mass and energy are both but different manifestations of the same thing - a somewhat unfamiliar conception for the average mind.

Yearbook

Those yearbook pictures are beginning to creep me out. (and I have more)

Change I Couldn't Believe In

At a drive-in window of a fast food place my order came to $4.19. I gave the girl $10, and she handed me my change - $5.18 and said, "Your change is $5.81." Dyslexia? The kind that reverses numbers and letters? I handed the change back to her and said that it wasn't correct. She looked puzzled and just stood there until a woman who seemed to be training her told her she needed two more quarters. I took it, looked at it, and handed that back to her and said, "This is 68 cents. I need 81 cents." That really flummoxed her. By then a boy had joined them as they stared at the coins. I said, "You use a calculator too much" and was determined not to tell them to give me 3 quarters, a nickel, and a penny. The woman finally figured it out, gave me the correct change, and I thanked them.

I told you people were getting dumber!

Another Decade

And now for the 60's ... I should get some actual pictures of me then to compare. Since I keep being misunderstood, I should explain at this site you use a photo and then fit it into what they have there. The hair and glasses and clothes are the same for everyone. The face is me around 1967 when I first started teaching in this picture from the yearbook at that high school. The others were made HERE

1964

1966 (close to how I looked in '64 and '65)

1968

Dislaimer Trivia

Mosquitoes are attracted to the color blue twice as much as to any other color. Mosquitoes have been responsible for more human deaths throughout history than all wars combined.

I just copy and paste this stuff. I don't check it out or verify any of it. This is for entertainment and discussion and clever remarks!

Yearbook

I "yearbooked" myself on Facebook. Here are a few of the results. I used the photo from the NOCHAS yearbook when I was a baby teacher. My bangs got in the way on these. I have another picture that would work better if I could find it taken my junior year of college.

Today - the 50's! I've edited to have the best one of each decade.

1958

Another Quiz

You Are Made Of Impishness, Passion, and Class

3 parts Impishness 2 parts Passion 1 part Class And a Splash of Allure Sip slowly on the beach

What's the Recipe for Your Personality?

Technical Question

Anyone know how to add an additional comment thingy on my blog? I am planning to reinstate my weekly trivia quiz and need an extra one for the answers. I tried with Haloscan and it replaced the one I have. I'm sure there's a way to do it but don't know enough about HTML to fool with my template.

Rainy Sunday

The weather is on the verge of a thunderstorm with dark clouds and wind that knocks things off of trees that clang and bang on my metal roof. I feel unsettled, discontent, and disturbed. I was up very late last night or early this morning depending on your point of view since I probably went to bed when some of you were getting up and drinking your coffee. I slept away the morning and had mundane yet strange dreams. Everything is a bit off.

No, I don't know what it is or any cause. The thunder sound more ominous than usual. I wish the wind would sail me away safely somewhere else. I don't want to be here or in my skin but am not sure where or who I'd rather be. Now the rain has come and feels as if it's beating down on my soul during this eerily dark afternoon. Maybe there'll be a rainbow.

Ms. Moon

Ms. Moon has done it again on her blog and expressed herself so eloquently and passionately! She even makes chickens fascinating, and I've always been fairly neutral about them. In this post, she wrote about President Obama. I, too, worry about him and hope he's holding up under all this opposition. Nothing he does is right or good enough for the people railing against him. It goes beyond his policies and into a hatred of him personally. It scares me so much. This is the most polarized I've seen this country since Vietnam and Civil Rights. Please check out Ms. Moon's blog.

From Michael Moore

His new documentary comes out the day before my birthday. I'm going to the Celebration of Cultures that Saturday at Centennial Park. What else will be going on? Actually October is a busy month with all the activities planned for when the weather is cooler. I just love fall!

Trailer HERE and quote here:

Thomas Jefferson: "Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies."

Odd Sacrifice Trivia

During World War II, on January 18, 1943, bakers in the United States were ordered to stop selling sliced bread for the duration of the war. Only whole loaves were made available to the public. It was never explained how this action helped the war effort.

And less than nine months later, I was born.

What?

Catherine the Great of Russia kept her wig maker in an iron cage in her bedroom for more than three years.

Nirvana Trivia

While Nirvana performed the song "Lithium" at the 1992 MTV awards show, bassist Novoselic tossed his bass in the air. It came down and hit him on the head, temporarily knocking him out. Kurt Cobain apparently missed the accident and screamed at him for being off beat.

Gator Trivia

Gatorade got its name from the Gators, the University of Florida football team who were the first to test it.

Bat Trivia

A baby bat is called a pup.

I don't care. They still aren't cute.

Fart Trivia

On the average, a healthy person farts 16 times a day. As a matter of fact, females fart just as much as males.

Einstein Quote

What really interests me is whether God had any choice in the creation of the world.

Lucy Trivia

Lucille Ball, from I Love Lucy, was tossed out of drama school in New York when she was only 15 years old.The reason? Her instructors claimed that the future madcap comedienne was too quiet and shy.

Interesting Reading

Here are some recent blogs and articles I've read recently and like. Check them out if the excerpts interest you. I want to read that book reviewed and mentioned in the last two.

"Trying to Understand the Illogical" in Nutwood Junction

The mind is an amazing thing, but what energy it must take to constantly try to rationalize mistaken beliefs, whatever they happen to concern. I would think that would be a full-time job, and would lead to further psychological conflict. I'm sure we all rationalize our behaviors to some extent ("I'm going to eat that extra doughnut because I had a bad day," or "I'm not going to get lung cancer because I don't smoke as much as some people do"), but when you ignore clear evidence, that seems to go a little beyond simple rationalization and into the realm of delusion.

"The Dunce Confederacy" in the New York Observer

In a review of Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free by Charles P. Pierce, Stephen Amidon wrote:

Although Ronald Reagan was an important champion of Idiot America, particularly in promoting his loopy “trickle down” theory of economics, the dunce confederacy really came into its own when George W. Bush took the helm. This is hardly surprising, given that a senior member of his administration (rumored to be Karl Rove) once famously expressed the Bush White House’s contempt for “the reality-based community.” Thus, we were given a chairman of the President’s Council on Bioethics, Dr. Leon Kass, who “opposed—in no particular order—in vitro fertilization, cosmetic surgery, organ transplants, contraception and the public eating of ice cream cones.” Or a head of FEMA, Michael “Brownie” Brown, “who’d been dismissed as an incompetent from his previous job as the director of a luxury show-horse organization.”

"Dumb is the New Black" in Young Australian Skeptics

There is a great discussion going on in another post regarding textual discrepancies in the Bible. It certainly brings the theists out of their hidey-​​holes to stick up for the Big Guy. But it also makes me realise that there is an even bigger group out there that too often get ignored in blogs and podcasts. They are the airy-​​fairy spiritualists. These are the people who don’t believe in organised religion but believe in just about everything else if it fits their world view. This group like to think of themselves as somehow more ‘in the know’ than the churches, like they have evolved past the dogma and rely purely on their own (very special) personal experiences, opinions and intuition. But what does this say about us as a modern community? When did the phrase “everybody is entitled to their opinion” become a valid argument for establishing the fact of a thing? When it all comes out in the wash it is still a belief based on no evidence and a lack of critical thought on the subject. I’m reminded at this point that Charles Pierce has just released a new book titled Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free. In it he responds to this very thing -“You’re entitled to your own opinion but you are not entitled to your own facts”. His book highlights how it has become a frequent phenomena that “everybody is a historian, or a scientist, or a preacher, or a sage. And if everyone is an expert, then nobody is, and the worst thing you can be in a society where everybody is an expert is, well, an actual expert”.

Dust Bunny CA$H CAB

When I go to NYC, I want us to find that taxi and play Cash Cab. If you haven't seen it, it's a quiz show on the Discovery Channel. So much fun! Check it out HERE.

Speculation

Do you think if Dick Cheney runs for president, his daughter Lynne will be his running mate? They've both been campaigning lately.

Oops, I meant his daughter Liz. Lynne is his wife.

I Never Noticed This Trivia

In every single episode of TV’s "Seinfeld," there is a Superman somewhere in at least one scene.

Anna Belle Clement O'Brien Obituary

Anna Belle Clement O'Brien: 1923-2009

Anna Belle Clement O'Brien was the indisputable and much beloved First Lady of Tennessee Politics, with a political career that spanned more than five decades and six administrations.

Born in Scottsville, Ky., she was the daughter of the late Robert and May Belle Clement. She had one brother, Frank Goad Clement (deceased), and a sister, Emma Gene (Clement) Peery. The family eventually put down roots in Dickson, Tenn., where Anna Belle held her first job in the office of her father's law firm as a secretary on Saturdays.

She was introduced to the world of politics as a young woman working in the gubernatorial campaign of her older brother Frank, who served as Tennessee governor from 1953 to 1959 and again from 1963 to 1967. She began her career in public service in 1955 as an assistant to future Governor Buford Ellington, who was then serving as commissioner of the Department of Agriculture in her brother's administration. She later served as Ellington's executive assistant. Upon the re-election of her brother in 1962, she was named to an administrative post, making her the first female chief of staff to the Governor in Tennessee history at a time before women held such powerful roles in government or business.

Miss Anna Belle, as she was called, was known for saying, "Politics is a beautiful word to me." She believed politics was first about people. She believed politics made children with handicaps walk, made education more accessible to everyone, gave people with mental illness a better life, and helped working people, seniors and children.

She also said, "Politics got me a good husband." She met Charles O'Brien, a state senator and widower from Memphis, at a reception for the legislature in 1964. They were married on Nov. 9, 1966, and made their home in Cumberland County. Charles also had a distinguished career in public service that culminated with his appointment as Chief Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court.

In 1974, Anna Belle Clement O'Brien ran for and won election to the Tennessee House of Representatives and won election to the Tennessee Senate in 1976, becoming only the second woman to win a seat in the state senate. Later she would go on to become the first woman to serve as committee chairwoman when she was appointed chair of the Senate Transportation and Senate Education committees.

After suffering her own personal battle with breast cancer, Sen. O'Brien led the effort to pass legislation to mandate insurance coverage of mammograms. She also created the landmark Tennessee Living Will Law. As chair of the Senate Education Committee and the Joint Oversight Committee on Education, she helped oversee the bipartisan effort to pass the most comprehensive and dynamic reform of classroom education in the history of Tennessee.

Sen. O'Brien was a role model who blazed the trail for a career in politics and public service for countless women when she ran for the office of governor herself in 1982. She was a tireless campaigner statewide for Democratic candidates, including her nephew Bob Clement and her niece Sara Kyle. Kyle, inspired by the public service careers of her uncle Frank and her aunt Anna Belle, blazed her own trail for young women in politics when she became only the second woman to win statewide office in Tennessee with her election to the Public Service Commission in 1994.

Miss Anna Belle will be remembered for her positive outlook, wonderful storytelling skills and sense of humor. She set high expectations for herself and for others and was a beloved mentor to many. An influential legislative leader, she believed in always "planning your work and working your plan," just as she believed in the importance of properly donned lipstick, earrings and high heels.

Anna Belle Clement O'Brien is survived by her sister Emma Gene Peery; stepchildren Heather O'Brien Hahn (Jan) and Diane O'Brien Soloman (David); nieces and nephews Bob Clement (Mary), Frank Clement Jr. (Lynn), B.Y. Peery (Deborah), Ann Whitis (Warren), Sara Kyle (Jim), Robert Peery (Carrie), and Betty Belle Peery; numerous grandchildren, great nieces and nephews; and dear and loyal friends Virgie Lotze, Randy Elmore and Barbara Caruthers.

She is preceded in death by parents Robert and May Belle Clement; brother Governor Frank Clement and sister-in-law Lucille Clement; brother-in-law Bruce Peery; stepson Steve O'Brien; and nephews Gary Clement and Don Peery.

Visitation will be Thursday, Sept. 3, at Hood Funeral Home, 2371 Highway 127 South, Crossville, TN, from noon to 8 p.m. (CDT).

Funeral services will be held on Friday, Sept. 4, at 11 a.m. at Tansi Community Church, 2067 Cravens Drive, Crossville, TN. Visitation will be held at the church at 10 a.m. (CDT).

Honorary Pallbearers include the members of the Frank G. Clement Museum Board of Directors, Crossville Fraternal Order of Police #163, Tennessee Highway Patrol, and former and current members of the Tennessee General Assembly.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the: Governor Frank G. Clement Museum, 100 Frank Clement Place, Dickson, TN 37055 or to Tansi Community Church, 2067 Cravens Drive, Crossville, TN 38572.

(email from the Tennessee Democratic Party)

Creepy and Tragic

I am horrified about what happened to Jaycee who was kidnapped when she was eleven and kept in the back yard for eighteen years by that sex offender. She has two daughters by him who are 11 and 15 and have probably also been raped by him. No matter how much therapy they have, they will never lead any semblance of a normal life after all that. I also wonder how many others might be in a similar situation. This is tragic.

Story HERE.

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