Tarantula Funerals, and Tom With the Weather

Tarantula funeral.

December 17, 2016

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I took my kids to see Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron. They loved it. I'm glad I got the chance to see one of his films with them in the theater. At 82 years old, and his retirement announced, it's likely his final film, but I believe he also announced his retirement after his previous film. I don't see how he could top this one, a perfect film to cap an illustrious career.

December 17, 2023

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Are there any blackened sandwiches in my friends list who are looking for a job at the Lancaster Popeye's?

December 17, 2022

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Me- What do you want to say about this picture Gretel?

Gretel- I won the best game of Scrabble!

Me- What did I tell you about sportsmanship?

Gretel- You should never try to win.

Me- What??? No, you should always try to win! But if you do win, you have to be nice about it.

Gretel- OK.

Gretel never wins at sportsmanship.

December 17, 2021

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That's cool that a Native-American, Deb Haaland, is nominated for Interior Secretary. She ran for congress as a 35th generation New Mexican, haha, wow. She is from the Laguna tribe, and I student taught at Laguna-Acoma High School. Some from the Acoma tribe always thought those from the Laguna tribe we're kind of uppity, and I'm sure they are thinking this nomination proves them right!

December 17, 2020

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Not sure if you caught it, but Bill Burr essentially mocked Jar Jar Binks on the Mandalorian. And he made fun of some guy's shoes. Maybe this is Star Wars at its best?

December 17, 2019

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So Mulvaney is on tape calling Trump "a terrible human being"... add that to the things said by Tillerson, McMaster, Kelly, Mattis, etc. I'd like to take a step back and give Trump a compliment though. His voters elected him for telling it like it is, and evidently he's hired people that have done the same thing.

December 17, 2018

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Not satire. What a loser! 

December 17, 2017

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Rogue One raises an interesting question- in 10-20 years could a long dead actor win an Oscar for best performance through the magic of CGI?

December 17, 2016

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I'm hoping that on Monday the Electoral College performs the unprecedented act of unpresidenting Trump.

December 17, 2016

Postscript- It sounds like I was in favor of disenfranchising voters, but that is exactly what the Electoral College was made for... keeping a lunatic populist out of office. I learned that in my college class on the presidents back in 1994.

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Gretel's nightmare last night- a fire truck pooped on her potty.

December 17, 2016

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The first Saturnalia festival was celebrated in ancient Rome on this exact day in 497 BC.

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On this day in 1862, General Ulysses S. Grant issued General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky. Wait, what???

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The Wright brothers made the first controlled powered, heavier-than-air flight on this day in 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

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Otto Hahn discovered the nuclear fission of the heavy element uranium on this day in 1938. Nineteen years later, to the day, the United States successfully launched the first Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

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On this day in 1961, a fire broke out during a performance by the Gran Circus Norte-Americano in the city of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, killing more than 500. About 70% of the deaths were children, many of which were trampled by adults trying to escape.

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Project Blue Book was closed on this day in 1969, the United States Air Force study of UFO's.

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The Simpsons premiered on this day in 1989, with the episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". That means The Simpsons so far spans five decades, and is about a third of the way to hitting it's sixth.

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Penelope Houston of the Avengers joined us on this day in 1958, with To Know Him Is To Live Him by The Teddy Bears at the top of the charts. 

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Perhaps my favorite baseball player, Chase Utley, was born on this day in 1978. His first hit was a grand slam. He pulled off this marvelous play in the decisive 5th game of the 2008 World Series:

https://youtu.be/32BSSvmtsFQ

He even responded to Mac's fan mail:

https://youtu.be/_6cEOk7x4HA

https://youtu.be/BnPBTozqdvY

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Good riddance to Kim Jong-il who left us on this day in 2011.

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Jeremy Bullock left us on this day in 2020, the man in the Boba Fett suit.

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The Onion- Open-Minded Man Grimly Realizes How Much Life He's Wasted Listening To Bullshit

http://www.theonion.com/articles/openminded-man-grimly-realizes-how-much-life-hes-w,19273/

December 17, 2011

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Cracked- 6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person

6. The World Only Cares About What It Can Get from You

5. The Hippies Were Wrong

4. What You Produce Does Not Have to Make Money, But It Does Have to Benefit People

3. You Hate Yourself Because You Don't Do Anything

2. What You Are Inside Only Matters Because of What It Makes You Do

1. Everything Inside You Will Fight Improvement

"Remember, misery is comfortable. It's why so many people prefer it. Happiness takes effort."

http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-you-better-person/

December 17, 2012

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New York Magazine- Report: Trump Floated Not Leaving White House on January 20

Valid point in this article... if Trump believes his lies, they aren't lies, they are delusions. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt though since he's president- 12,500 lies, 12,500 delusions.

Sidenote, this is my favorite Trump pic.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/12/will-trump-leave-white-house-january-20-inauguration.html

December 17, 2020

Postscript- Not leave??? You don't say.

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Bill Hicks- "This is where we are at right now, as a whole. No one is left out of the loop. We are experiencing a reality based on a thin veneer of lies and illusions. A world where greed is our God and wisdom is sin, where division is key and unity is fantasy, where the ego-driven cleverness of the mind is praised, rather than the intelligence of the heart."

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Hitchens:

"It will happen to all of us, that at some point you get tapped on the shoulder and told, not just that the party’s over, but slightly worse: the party’s going on — but you have to leave. And it’s going on without you. That’s the reflection that I think most upsets people about their demise. All right, then, because it might make us feel better, let’s pretend the opposite. Instead, you’ll get tapped on the shoulder and told, Great news: this party’s going on forever – and you can’t leave. You’ve got to stay; the boss says so. And he also insists that you have a good time."

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Isaac Asimov- "They won't listen. Do you know why? Because they have certain fixed notions about the past. Any change would be blasphemy in their eyes, even if it were the truth. They don't want the truth; they want their traditions."

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Stephen Hawking- "People won't have time for you if you are always angry or complaining."

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Woody Allen- "Tradition is the illusion of permanence."

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Mark Twain- "Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day."

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Sagan, Demon-Haunted World- "At the heart of science is an essential balance between two seemingly contradictory attitudes--an openness to new ideas, no matter how bizarre or counterintuitive they may be, and the most ruthless skeptical scrutiny of all ideas, old and new. This is how deep truths are winnowed from deep nonsense."

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Hitchens again- "The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks."

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Bill Hicks again, acting like he's a news anchor:

"Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the weather."

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Arthur C. Clarke, Childhood's End- "There were some things that only time could cure. Evil men could be destroyed, but nothing could be done with good men who were deluded."

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Vonnegut, Mother Night- "We are what we pretend to be, so we have to be careful what we pretend to be."

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Steven Wright:

You know when you're sitting on a chair and you lean back so you're just on two legs and you lean too far so you almost fall over but at the last second you catch yourself? I feel like that all the time.

I saw a sign at a gas station. It said 'help wanted'. There was another sign below it that said 'self service'. So I hired myself. Then I made myself the boss. I gave myself a raise. I paid myself. Then I quit.

When I turned two I was really anxious, because I'd doubled my age in a year. I thought, if this keeps up, by the time I'm six I'll be ninety.

Why isn't the number 11 pronounced onety one?

I installed a skylight in my apartment... the people who live above me are furious!