Jim Edmonds' Catch, "Monkey, Throw, Poop," and More

Louis L'Amour- "Should I write anything tonight? Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on."

"He left us the day in 1988," I wrote.

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Of course Hannity is complaining about the coverage. His own texts are an ORIGINAL SOURCE for everybody around the President telling him he lost. He was telling the White House to stop the election lies. Why wouldn't he want his viewers to know that? A takeaway paragraph:

"Ironically, Hannity, the very person who had been texting the White House, telling them to get Trump to stop the election lies, was on TV Thursday night with banners on the screen, exclaiming that there were "false narratives" from the hearing, calling it a "sham investigation" that was an orchestrated "anti-Trump show trial.""

The key takeaway for me was that Trump was on the side of the mob chanting to hang Pence. "Maybe our supporters have the right idea. Mike Pence deserves it."

Fox news decided to stick with Tucker Carlson's show commercial free so nobody would turn to it. Viewers will have opinions but miss the thing they have opinions on.

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Biologist, E. O. Wilson, joined us on this day in 1929 and only just recently left.

"People would rather believe than know."

Never more true than right now. 

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On this date in 1997, Jim Edmonds made perhaps the greatest defensive play in the history of baseball. Articles have been written on it.

https://fb.watch/l65vei87Ln/?mibextid=irwG9G

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Very proud of my kids today. Back in January we got two ribbon snakes off Craigslist with the intent of releasing them when it got warm. Well it's warm and I suspected they might back out of it, wanting to keep them instead. But they were both gung-ho about letting them live outside where they belong. Ribbon snakes fair well outside after living in captivity, not all snakes do. Best of luck to Snakula and Tom.

June 10, 2021

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Gretel & Zuzu were playing with my Star Wars toys tonight, and at one point Gretel had a Taun Taun in one hand and a Dewback in the other and she was making them kiss. The word blasphemous doesn't pop into my mind too often! I told her that could never possibly happen. Later she was making two Dewbacks dance together and kiss. Great! I mean come on, a Taun Taun and a Dewback? In history of storytelling, has there ever been a more clear example of star-crossed lovers???

June 10, 2020

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Who is lying, Comey or Trump??? Was it Comey who was testifying under oath with a possible penalty of perjury, while he knew there was a chance that Trump taped him and could easily disprove anything he said? Or was it Trump who lies all the time about all kinds of easily disprovable things?

The funny and ironic thing about this possible/probable lie about taping Comey, is that whether or not it's true, it appears to have proven that Comey is telling the truth about Trump being a liar. Neat huh?

June 10, 2017

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I would have really liked to have seen Gretel's nightmare last night. Here's how she described it- "monkey, throw, poop!"

June 10, 2016

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Recipe: a bite of moderately expensive cheese and a bite of homemade beef jerky. I call it a Millionaire's Slim Jim.

June 10, 2011

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Stephen Hawking- "There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, [and] science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works."

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From the American Journal of Medicine:

"Regardless of exact cause and effect, however, the current study debunks the widely quoted hypothesis purporting to show that countries with the higher gun ownership are safer than those with low gun ownership."

http://t.co/IXr3qcVUnv

June 10, 2014

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When NASCAR banned the Confederate flag from their races:

I'm forced to consider what percentage NASCAR fans are in favor of displaying the Confederate flag... and I have to think banning it is a remarkable display of leadership on their part. Wouldn't it be totally bizarre if the Supreme Court struck down such bans as unconstitutional under the same decision that allows burning the flag as an expression of free speech?

June 10, 2020

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Interviewer: Do you care about legacy?

Fran Lebowitz: Not at all. I don’t care. I do not at all. I do not care what happens after I die in any way, in other words. Why do people care about this? I don’t care about this. It’s like caring about what you’re going to have for dinner the day after you’re dead.

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On this day in 1692, Bridget Bishop was hung at Gallows Hill near Salem, Massachusetts, for "certaine Detestable Arts called Witchcraft and Sorceries".

You know what Exodus 22:18 days, right?

"Thou shall not suffer a witch to live."

I guess they were just following the Bible by the letter. Good thing Christians are more moderate. In general, adherents to any religion are moderate in proportion to how much of their holy books they ignore.

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On the state in 1933, in New Carlisle, Ohio Dillinger robbed the National Bank of $10,600. That would be a quarter of a million dollars today.

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The Equal Pay Act of 1963, aimed at abolishing wage disparity based on sex, was signed into law on this day, by John F. Kennedy as part of his New Frontier Program. It didn't work out great.

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On this day in 1977, James Earl Ray escaped from Brushy Mountain State Prison in Petros, Tennessee. He was recaptured three days later. Damn, keep ahold of these guys! 

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Persian poet and philosopher, Fakhr-al-Din Iraqi, was born on this day in 1213. 

Each image painted

on the canvas of existence

is the form

of the artist himself.

Eternal Ocean

spews forth new waves.

"Waves“ we call them;

but there is only the Sea.

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Singer songwriters, Howlin' Wolf, was born on this day in 1910. Back then they called him Chester Arthur Burnett. Was he named after president Chester Arthur??? He was the exact most ordinary president we've ever had, and he had been dead for like 25 years.

Smokestack Lightning

Whoa, smokestack lightnin'

Shinin' just like gold

Why don't you hear me cryin'?

A-whoo-hoo, a-whoo-hoo, whoo

Whoa-oh, tell me, baby

What's the matter here?

Why don't you hear me cryin'?

Whoo-hoo, whoo-hoo, whoo

Whoa-oh, tell me, baby

Where did you stay last night?

Why don't you hear me cryin'?

Whoo-hoo, whoo-hoo, whoo

Whoa-oh, stop your train

Let a poor boy ride

Why don't you hear me cryin'?

Whoo-hoo, whoo-hoo, whoo

Whoa-oh, fare-you-well

Never see a you no more

Why don't you hear me cryin'?

Whoo-hoo, whoo-hoo, whoo

Whoa-oh, who been here baby since

I, I been gone a little bitty boy?

Girl, be on

A-whoo-hoo, whoo-hoo, whoo

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The writer, Saul Bellow, was born on this day in 1915.

"You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write."

I have firsthand experience with that phenomenon, but for work-related writing. It saved our company $800,000 to date!

I bought a collection of his short stories and need to start reading it soon.

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The incomparable Judy Garland, was born on this day in 1922, 100 years ago today.

"I've always taken 'The Wizard of Oz' very seriously, you know. I believe in the idea of the rainbow. And I've spent my entire life trying to get over it."

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Judy Garland could have been 95 years old today. Although, in a sense she is still alive. Her essence somehow exists in her films, like many of the old actors and actresses.

https://youtu.be/PSZxmZmBfnU

June 11, 2017

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Maurice Sendak joined us in this day in 1928. The one and only old man that you can imagine as a baby.

"I refuse to lie to children. I refuse to cater to the bullshit of innocence."

He and I are kindred spirits in that way.

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Bill Burr was born on this day in 1968. He has to be in my top 5 current stand ups. This routine is when I fell in love with him.

"I’m trying – I want to find an honesty guy. You know what I mean, some guy who’s just going to get on TV and be like, look in order for this whole thing to work at least two-thirds of you need to just go to the beach and walk into the ocean. There is only so much chicken and freshwater left. If you’re not in that upper third just be honest with yourselves, you know, they should have auditions. Whatever you do you got to audition to still be here, right? You’re a plumber; fix that sink better than 70% of the other fuckers and that’s it, put some wrenches in your pocket, go to the beach and out you go. Yeah, straight across the board, dentists, comedians, I do it, I’d stand in the line with a bunch of clowns, all right, tumblers and shit. I wouldn’t make it. I wouldn’t. You know I take comfort in knowing that, there is no way I’m making it. I’m useless. I am. I’m 44, I’m not married, I don’t have any kids, why am I still here? Just another person taking up space, walking into a Starbucks, oh, Sheryl Crow CD, right, why am I here?"

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Apparently the Unabomber killed himself in prison today. 

His manifesto is pretty on the money, but then makes a ridiculous leap.

Thomas Hardy- "Do not do an immoral thing for moral reasons."

John Waters with a Unabomber birdhouse.

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Other notable birthdays- Hattie McDaniel (1895), Eliot Spitzer (1959), Kim Deal (1961), Gina Gershon (1962), Leelee Sobieski (1983)

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Other notable deathdays- Jack Johnson (1946), Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1982), Jo Van Fleet (1996), Ray Charles (2004)

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Nick Cohen- "Compulsive liars shouldn’t frighten you. Compulsive believers should terrify you. Believers are the liars’ enablers."

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Laozi- "Watch your thoughts, they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habit."

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George V. Higgins, The Friends of Eddie Coyle- "Life is hard; it's harder if you're stupid."

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Bertrand Russell, An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish- “If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do. The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. Persecution is used in theology, not in arithmetic, because in arithmetic there is knowledge, but in theology there is only opinion. So whenever you find yourself getting angry about a difference of opinion, be on your guard; you will probably find, on examination, that your belief is going beyond what the evidence warrants.”

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Dylan- "When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose."

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Jung- "I don't aspire to be a good man. I aspire to be a whole man."

Huh, not so sure I agree with that.

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Einstein- "The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self."

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"There you go, I compiled a lot and wrote a little," I wrote.