Tuesday's Tidbits...
Gonna spend a little time today shaking the NEWS tree...and see what falls the hell out, fair enough?
Right, then. Let's get started, shall we?
*** I know there are many of you out there that remember SING ALONG WITH MITCH.
Well, all good things DO come to an end.
(( NEW YORK (AP) - Mitch Miller, the goateed orchestra leader who asked Americans to "Sing Along With Mitch" on television and records, has died at the age of 99.
Miller was a key record executive at Columbia Records in the pre-rock 'n' roll era, making hits with singers Rosemary Clooney, Patti Page, Johnny Mathis and Tony Bennett.
"Sing Along With Mitch" started as a series of records, then became a popular NBC show starting in early 1961. Miller's stiff-armed conducting style and signature goatee became famous.
The TV show ranked in the top 20 for the 1961-62 season, and soon children everywhere were parodying Miller's stiff-armed conducting. An all-male chorus sang old standards, joined by a few female singers, most prominently Leslie Uggams. Viewers were invited to join in with lyrics superimposed on the screen and followed with a bouncing ball.
An accomplished oboist, Miller played in a number of orchestras early in his career, including one put together in 1934 by George Gershwin. "Gershwin was an unassuming guy," Miller told The New York Times in 1989."I never heard him raise his voice".
Miller began in the recording business with Mercury Records in the late '40s, first on the classical side, later with popular music. He then went over to Columbia Records as head of its popular records division.
In recent years, Miller returned to his classical roots, appearing frequently as a guest conductor with symphony orchestras.
In 2000, he won a special Grammy Award for lifetime achievement.
"He was absolutely himself up until the minute he got sick," said his daughter. "He was truly blessed with a long and wonderful life."
Miller was born in 1911, in Rochester, N.Y., son of a Russian Jewish immigrant wrought-iron worker and a seamstress. He graduated from the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester.
A memorial service is planned for the fall. ))
One might say that Mitch Miller "invented" what we now call today...KARAOKE!
***The MOST stolen vehicle is still the ESCALADE.
(and what DO drug dealers LOVE to own and drive into blighted neighborhoods?)
So, if YOU'RE in the market to "trade up" your trusty steed for a "ThuggieBling-Mobile", take heed.
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20100803/APF/1008030505
What this article fails to mention, is that in SOME neighborhoods, thieves will take damn near ANYTHING they can turn around for folding money!
And remember, the LARGER the trunk space...the BIGGER the kicker box and bass speakers, just so you know.
So, maybe holding onto my '83 Firebird might have some "benefits" after all?
'Ya never can tell...
*** Ever wonder if those floods that are devastating Pakistan, and have killed about 1,500 while placing another 100,000 at risk of disease might just be God's way of saying "You people suck and need to stop this war mongering BS"?
*** An update to a previous story...
(( 1 gunshot victim released; 1 critical / Journal Gazette
Fort Wayne police have released the identities of two men wounded in a Friday shooting, one of whom has been released from a hospital.
The shooting was reported just after 3:30 p.m. Friday near East Sherwood Terrance and South Park Drive, on the city's southeast side.
Derrick White, 52, and Dana Jones Jr., 24, were in a Ford Taurus when an Oldsmobile pulled up alongside their car.
Police believe people in both cars knew one another, and that the cars stopped so the people inside could have a conversation.
At least one person in the Oldsmobile then began firing at the Taurus. The shooting caused the Taurus to sideswipe a parked car along the street and then hit a tree in the front yard of a home in the 900 block of East Sherwood.
A neighbor said White, the Taurus driver, got out of the car and fled to a nearby home for help. White, whose age was initially reported to be 61, and Jones were both taken to a hospital in critical condition.
White has since been treated and released. Jones remained in critical condition Monday, police said.
Officer Raquel Foster, police spokeswoman, said detectives have no suspects. Anyone with information on the shooting should call Crime Stoppers at 436-STOP ))
It IS a known fact that over 75% of ALL shootings involve people who know, or have known each other at some point.
Interesting enough, some of the nations with the LOWEST gun-related homicide rates are Switzerland, Qatar, Singapore, Slovenia, and Ireland.
Wonder what THOSE countries are doing that we SHOULD be doing, hmm?
I mean the Irish and the Swiss have LONG traditions when it comes to GUNS...and they seem to be doing a lot better than we are.
Maybe they PUNISH those a lot more who use guns to kill PEOPLE?
*** More on the K2 situation here in Fort Wayne...
Here's the story link:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20100803/LOCAL/308039959/1002/LOCAL An interesting side note to this.
The other day I heard on the police radio that a girl was being treated for K2 usage. Somehow, THAT didn't make the papers OR the evening news. I held off mentioning it, because I "thought" they would carry the story, or at least follow up on the radio call. Yeah, news rooms DO have police scanners these days. That's how they get to scene almost as fast as the officers...and have to be corralled behind those "thin plastic yellow lines" by the THIN BLUE LINE.
Apparently, more teens ARE doing this, and the media isn't letting concerned parents in on it. This should be all over the news.
I mean this crap doesn't even smell GOOD enough to use AS incense (the original intent of the substance).
It smells like someone tried to cover the month-old gym socks odor with a can of GLADE (ocean mist)...seriously!
The stupidity and ignorance shown by some folks over this ranks up there with the lead paint gig.
When parents care so little about their children, and care so much about getting their OWN high on, that the kids gnaw on window sills for sustenance, because baby-mama is too damn stoned to open a can of (welfare bought and paid for) Spaghetti-Os, or Ramen Noodles...something is FUBAR with our society.
A blind man can see this stuff.
*** Lastly...tonight is the NATIONAL NIGHT OUT AGAINST CRIME (as I was reminded by fellow blogger, Slamdunk yesterday), so on our trek to Menards, I got us a CFL BLUE bulb to use in our front light this evening. And at $5, it should last the remainder of my lifetime...LOL The reason for the CFL was that the wattage is equal to a 60W incandescent bulb while burning at only 7W...a real bargain (rolls eyes).
Now, Lord knows I really appreciate the night out concept....as it was conceived.
Get to "know" your neighbors...yeah, right.
Don't think that's ever gonna happen around here with me.
In a NICE neighborhood, that makes sense....but not around this neck of the "Badlands".
If I got to KNOW my neighbors, I'd be in cahoots with drug dealers, drug users, people committing welfare fraud, check fraud, Medicare fraud, along with sex offenders, burglars, scrappers, rapists, and other assorted human flotsam.
That's just not on MY "bucket list" these days...
To me, EVERY night is a night out against crme.
I just don't go out after dark, like any SANE person, and if I do, it certainly is NOT on foot, and definitely NOT unarmed.
Hell, I don't go ANYWHERE on MY property w/o packing heat.
And I don't give a rat's backside as to WHO knows it (or not).
I'll open-carry on my property whenever the mood strikes me.
But I digress...
The National Night Out is a good thing for ANY community, but one must HAVE a "community" to begin with.
We don't have that around here.
I'm in a scant number of citizens that actively views all law-enforcement as a FRIEND...and NOT "the enemy".
Sure, I might bust on the "admins" and top dogs in the department wearing all the gold braid, but with good reason.
They're pretty much pushing paper...not perps into the backseat of the cruiser.
The guys and gals doing the street-beat daily are the ones that take most all the flak from everyone.
They're the ones the "locals" will target for lawsuits. And they are the ones that get sniped in cities like Oakland.
They are ambushed, shot at, cursed, spat upon, ridiculed, and lambasted by an uninformed public.
They are the wall (between us and crime), to which so much needless crap is hurled at.
And these people do this every single day, because they WANT to.
They have to make that difference...to uphold the laws...to protect the innocent, and to serve the public.
To me, THAT is a more important reason for the night out against crime...
It's a show of SOLIDARITY, between the citizenry and law-enforcement.
We are united in more ways than you can imagine...
Every one of us has the capacity to make our neighborhoods better, whether we wear a shield of not.
Those that choose to help...will.
Those that do not...will not.
It's that simple.
So, take some time to day to acknowledge what the police have to endure, just to fight crime.
Put that BLUE bulb in that porch light...just for tonight. If a cruiser passes you by, give a friendly wave.
Show them YOU care...it's what this nation is known for.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay safe out there, America.