Conversation

Brendan was funny on the phone with me yesterday. He went into this: My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas. I said, “Oh, you are using a mnemonic device to name the planets,” and named the first three. He then went on to name the rest of them and added, “In January, 2006, Pluto’s status as a planet was changed. Because of its orbit, Pluto is a dwarf planet.” I said that’s right and asked him what the sentence should be without Pluto. He said, “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us … Nothing. Now we will no longer enjoy our mother’s delicious home-cooked Pluto.” I guess that was on the DVD he got this from, too. I'll have to ask his parents if he edited that last part or not.

Interesting child for sure. He didn’t show as much interest in the mnemonics I gave him for the Great Lakes but will probably remember it. (HOMES = Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior)

D&D Banned in Prison

I thought it was interesting on several levels that Dungeons & Dragons has been banned in prison. NYTimes article HERE.

The suit was brought by a prisoner, Kevin T. Singer, who argued that his First Amendment and 14th Amendment rights were violated by the prison’s decision to ban the game and confiscate his books and other materials, including a 96-page handwritten manuscript he had created for the game.

Mr. Singer, “a D&D enthusiast since childhood,” according to the court’s opinion, was sentenced to life in prison in 2002 for bludgeoning and stabbing his sister’s boyfriend to death.

Prison officials said they had banned the game at the recommendation of the prison’s specialist on gangs, who said it could lead to gang behavior and fantasies about escape.

Dungeons & Dragons could “foster an inmate’s obsession with escaping from the real-life correctional environment, fostering hostility, violence and escape behavior,” prison officials said in court. That could make it more difficult to rehabilitate prisoners and could endanger public safety, they said.

RPG discussion boards are abuzz! As the mother of a geek, I've been defending this for quite a long time; however, the prison population doesn't have the most well-adjusted people around, so I'm trying to wrap my head around a gang of D&D players.

War 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.

Size Trivia

The largest Olympic stadium ever constructed was Stadium Australia in Olympic Park. It seats 110,000 people. Opening and closing ceremonies, men’s soccer finals, and athletic events were held there.

I LOVE the Olympics!!

Bowling Trivia

Candlepin bowling uses 10 small pins and 3 balls, and is played primarily in the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island. The ball is only 5 inches in diameter, is made of hard rubber, and has no finger holes.

I've played something similar to this, but it had another name. Anybody know?

Einstein Say -

If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.

And this too ...

If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.

Snow

It's snowing like a madman here. It started a little after 8:00 and hasn't stopped. They're predicting 6-10" of accumulation. It changed to freezing rain while ago which is predicted to go back to snow, and I hope it does. As long as the electricity stays on, I'm fine.

Did Any of You Know This? I Didn't.

The first woman executed by the U.S. government was Mary Surratt. She was hanged July 7, 1865, for conspiracy in the assassination of President Lincoln.

J. D. Salinger

J. D. Salinger died today at 91. I've read and enjoyed all his books and short stories. They came along at the right time for me. We all know about Catcher in the Rye, but he wrote many short stories as well. This quote from one of them is meaningful to me:

The central theme of Salinger's work is stated explicitly in one of his best short stories, "For Esmé – with Love and Squalor." Salinger quotes a passage from Dostoevski: "Fathers and teachers, I ponder 'What is Hell?' I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love."

I Don't Remember This

The first color TV series starred married actors Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy and was called The Marriage, appropriately enough.

Sad News

Brian called this morning to let me know that my ex-husband died at 7:45 this morning from renal cell carcinoma. He was an important part of my life for many years and is Brian's father. Even though I didn't want to stay married to him, I have lots of good memories from our time together. Brian and Melissa are flying to Tampa Saturday afternoon for visitation Sunday and the funeral Monday. Brendan will stay here with me. If the weather reports are accurate, and we get all this snow they're predicting, this could be difficult to manage since I can't get out of my neighborhood when it snows very much. There are hills in every direction with not enough room to get a running start. The street in front of my house goes to the by-pass down a very steep hill, which I've always elected not to try. So I hope weather conditions cooperate, so they can get Brendan here Saturday evening and pick him up Monday evening.

This is really sad. Brian's doing pretty well and was prepared for how bad this was even though we're never totally prepared for this.

Hibernating?

I worked at the vitamin shop yesterday afternoon and got so sleepy toward the end of the day. I dragged myself to the yarn shop and the grocery store. When I got home, I put up the groceries and changed clothes. Then I lay down to rest and dozed off for a while. I was so groggy and fixed a Lean Cuisine because I wasn't capable of much else. After attempting to play Scrabble while eating, it was all I could do to go back to bed and watch the State of the Union Address. I saw parts of it and then went to sleep big time, not waking up until 2:30 AM when I got up and turned everything off and went back to bed until around 8:30 this morning. Good grief! Am I sick? I still don't have any energy and don't feel that great.

Auntie Meme

Well, since it's Howard, I'll do this. He tagged me for a meme, and although there aren't many things most of you don't know about me (that I'd tell on here), I'll give it a shot.

1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award.

Thank you, Howard.

2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.


3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.

Soundtrack to My Day

4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.

So many! This is the hard part.

(1) I'm a cat person. Mostly because I like it that cats use the litter box, don't eat all their food so it can be left out for them, don't require baths that often, don't have to be walked, and don't bark. I'm too lazy to have a dog and don't like to be jumped on and licked by them.



(2) I survived the 60's without addictions and with quite a bit of my idealism. I'm a realist but hopeful. I didn't do drugs but did try smoking pot and didn't like it. I don't smoke, so it hurt my lungs. I also didn't like to feel disoriented (well, more than I am naturally). I don't like to be out of control even though I was drunk a few too many times back then. Anyone who says you wouldn't do anything drunk you wouldn't do sober has never been drunk. One of those experiences marked the end of my drinking except for wine now and then. It happened a long time ago - like at least 25 years ago.


(3) I love being retired but wish I weren't so old. My life hasn't exactly gone the way I hoped it would. There are quite a few things I'd change if I could rewind.


(4) Have enjoyed traveling and want to do more of it. For example, I want to go back to Europe and want to visit Australia. There are places here in the US to go, too. I want to visit my blog friends and nephews and/or meet them in various places. I'd love to visit Charlie and get him down here sometime. So many places to go! Also, how can I work it out to live in the SW (Arizona or New Mexico) during a lot of the summer?


(5) A lot of people get on my nerves.


(6) I actually do this.


(7) I'm still intimidated by my external hard drive and haven't used it yet.


5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers and post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.

I hate to ask any of you to do this because I know some of you hate it, and some others I'd ask have already been tagged. So if you don't choose to participate, that's OK. I'm asking you because I like your blogs. I don't always comment on them because often I read them on my Blackberry and can't comment or post - just read.

- My dear friend Charlie I've known for at least 15 years, I think. How long has it been, Charlie? His blog is Berry Blog HERE.

- Tugboat my favorite truck driver and best storyteller ever! His blog "The Award Winning! God, You Ain't Goin' to Believe This!" is HERE.

- Froggy at the former Frogponder but now Froggy.

- Mrs. Miss Alaineus because what I know about you already is fascinating, and I'd like to know more.

- Her wonderful new husband Mr. Mischief whose blog is A Bit of Loki.

- Ken at Bucko's World. He's Nutwood Beth's husband and a neat guy.

- Oxy on The Life and Times of Huge Alex. He's from Wales originally, lived in the US a long time, and is now back in the UK.

- Chris at From A Whisper to A Scream.

6. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated.

I think I remembered to let all of them know!

New Book

Game Change came today from Amazon. I've been wanting to read the dishy book and now I will. You'll be hearing about this from me.

How Dinosaurs Became Extinct

... or the very first senior moment

I Can Believe This

Declaring that he was an alcoholic, Ozzy Osbourne quit performing and opened a bar. He soon drank up all his stock and wasted his money until he rejoined his band.

Wine

For those of you who would like for wine to be sold in TN grocery stores, HERE is a website that gives information and a link to write to your legislators. It's called Red White and Food. I just sent emails to my state legislators, one I know is in favor of this because he sponsored it - not sure about the other one since he sponsored that legislation to allow guns in bars and restaurants. They can sell beer in grocery stores here but not wine. Weird. Get me out of here!

Red Panda and Spring Flowers

I was tired of looking at the snow picture I had on my blog header and changed it to the red panda. Isn't that the cutest and most adorable thing!!

I bought potted hyacinths and daffodils to have in the house to give me some hope for spring. I'm ready for warmer weather and wish spring and fall would last most of the year.

SAG Awards

Betty White was a hoot in her Lifetime Achievement acceptance speech. SOURCE for excerpts from article.

The funniest acceptance speech goes to lifetime achievement award winner Betty White, who still can rile up a room after 88 years. After buddy Sandra Bullock lightly teased White during her introduction (said Bullock: “She starred in four different television shows called The Betty White Show. Four. Most people would stop naming shows after themselves after the third one.”), White approached the podium and thanked her pal: “Isn’t it heartening to see how far a girl as plain as she is can go?” But she was just getting started: “I am still to this day starstruck. I look out at this audience and I see so many famous faces. But what really boggles my mind is that I actually know many of you. And I’ve worked with quite a few. Maybe had a couple.” (Props to George Clooney, who, while presenting best performance by a cast in a motion picture, told the audience: “I think it was 1987, I did an episode of The Golden Girls, and I would like to thank Betty White for her discretion.”) And you have to respect White, if only for that high-slit dress. Backstage, she told reporters, “You got to use everything you possibly can!”

Betty White had only praise for Bullock backstage. "She's the epitome of what a movie star should be," White said. "She's not only gorgeous and talented, but she's also the most down-to-earth human being."

And this:

Sandra Bullock is really turning out to be the darling of the awards season. Just check out the speech she delivered after winning her best actress award for her work in The Blind Side: “So proud to say that in a room full of faces that have inspired me, and allowed me six years ago to say I’m going to stop working, ’cause I wasn’t doing good work, and audition again. And you say goodbye to the money, and you say goodbye to all the things that you became comfortable with…And to my husband, Jesse, who works so hard all day, and you get dressed up in monkey suits, and you sit at a table with people you don’t know. And I leave you there and then you come back with, like, Morgan Freeman’s email. I don’t know how you do it. I love you so much, and you’re really hot. And I want you so much.” Backstage, the actress could barely believe her win — she told reporters: “It’s a fluke. I feel that it’s wrong. I made a bet with the driver — my money was on Meryl.” And when another reporter told her she was now the frontrunner, she shushed him.

Full speech here and worth watching for the loving expression husband Jesse James has on his face. Charlie and I became fans of his when he was in Celebrity Apprentice and did it on his own, no matter how much Trump tried to badger him into calling on his wife. Sandra Bullock also said at the Critics Choice Awards how it was no surprise that her work got better after she married him and that now she knew what it was like for someone to have her back. They seem to have a good marriage, and I'm glad.



This is the year for Sandra Bullock, Jeff Bridges, Christoph Waltz, and Mo'Nique. I'm also really happy for Juliana Margulies for her role in The Good Wife. She's excellent on that and said her parents called her after every episode and have always been supportive. She said they were proud of her in everything she's been in except not so much for Snakes on a Plane. LOL! I'm sure! If you haven't seen The Good Wife, watch it. I still have movies on my list to see!

February will be TV heaven for me with the Olympics and other awards shows!!

Vote for Howard's Blog Soundtrack to My Day

My blog friend Howard has been nominated for a Bloggie for his blog about music Soundtrack to My Day. This is a big deal! The Bloggies began around ten years ago and are like the Oscars for bloggers. Ironically Howard had to be coaxed into blogging and now look! He's a star!

Please go HERE and vote for him, and if you want to read an excellent blog about music, read Soundtrack to My Day.

The voting procedure is one vote per email address. If you return to vote again, the ballot will be replaced, so be sure to mark all the categories you have with favorites. Voting is open from now until Sunday, January 31st at 10PM. To place your vote, go here, where the screen goes horizontally, not vertically. The music category is about halfway across. But do check out all the categories and blogs, there are some fascinating entries. At the far right, there is a place to fill in your email address and an anti-spam word device before completing the process. A verification email will be sent to the address to finalize the vote. The winner will be announced in March at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas.

As a favor to several of us, please vote for anyone but Perez Hilton in the Gossip Blog category. You might find some of your favorites on the ballots, so check them out.

Thank you! Please vote!