Twin Beams in Remembrance of the Twin Towers

Spectators gather in front of the Brooklyn Bridge to see the lights rising from the World Trade Center site on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
(Carolyn Cole / LAT)

Dizzy Lizzy the clown is making kids laugh all over New Jersey

(http://gitsy.com/)

Clowning is an ancient art form, which appears in some manner in virtually every culture. An early form of clowns was the court jester, a role that can be traced back to ancient Egypt. Though most jesters suffered from some physical deformity and were often the butt of jokes, they were often the only courtiers who enjoyed free speech, and could usually freely speak their minds to the monarch.

"Sonnenuntergang in Kroatien"

Photo by Jaqueline Janko

"The Children of the Butterfly Fairy"

by RavenManiac1313
(http://www.zazzle.com/)

A View of the Improbable

View of the improbable result of the S.S. Princess May wrecked on Sentinel Island, Alaska, on August 5, 1910.
(http://www.zazzle.com/collections/)

COMEDY LEGEND PAUL LYNDE

Paul Lynde (1926-1982) was the center square on the classic game show Hollywood Squares from 1968-1981 and he became a master of wit. Some of Lynde's famous quips during Hollywood Squares include:

Q. Do female frogs croak?
A: If you hold their little heads under water long enough.

Q: Paul, can you get an elephant drunk?
A: Yes, but he still won't go up to your apartment.

Q: Prometheus was tied to the top of a mountain by the gods because he had given something to man. What did he give us?
A: I don't know what you got, but I got a sports shirt.

Q: Is Billy Graham considered a good dresser?
A: No, but he's a terrific end table.

Q: Is using an electric vibrating machine a good way to lose weight?
A: That's what I told the saleslady, but she just winked.

Q: When is it a good idea to put your pantyhose in the microwave oven for two minutes?
A: When your house is surrounded by the police.

Q: Why do sheep sleep huddled up?
A: Because Little Boy Blue's a weirdo.

Q: When you pat a dog on its head he will usually wag his tail. What will a goose do?
A: Make him bark.

Q: What is the name of the instrument with the light on the end, that the doctor sticks in your ear?
A: Oh, a cigarette.

Q: It is considered in bad taste to discuss two subjects at nudist camps. One is politics. What is the other?
A: Tape measures.

Q: According to the old song, "At night, when you're asleep, into your tent I'll creep." Who am I?
A: The scoutmaster.


Q: Paul, why do Hell's Angels wear leather?
A: Because chiffon wrinkles too easily.

Who could ever forget Roseanne Roseanneadanna's take on the news ??

"Roseanne Roseannadanna" was a character created and portrayed by Gilda Radner (1946-1989) on Saturday Night Live and later in Radner's live one-woman shows. Her name is likely a reference to 1970s WABC-TV newsreader Rose Ann Scamardella. The character would appear as a commentator during the Weekend Update segments during Jane Curtin's tenure as Weekend Update anchor.

As portrayed by Radner, Roseannadanna was a brash, tactless New Yorker with a thick Brooklyn accent, and her commentary would follow a strict formula. She would read a letter which was almost always from the same person: Richard Feder of Fort Lee, New Jersey (although, on one occasion she read a letter from a "Mrs." Richard Feder). The letter would ask a series of questions, to which Roseannadanna would usually reply, "Boy, Mr. Feder, you sure do ask a lot of stupid questions for a guy from New Jersey." Then she would make a derogatory comment about New Jersey.

While answering the questions, she would invariably digress, launching into a lengthy anecdote with no relevance whatsoever to the topic at hand. Inevitably, the story would lead into Roseannadanna's going into disgustingly graphic detail about bodily functions or personal hygiene; with these details, she would use a famous celebrity as an example and say that she would ask these celebrities, "What are ya tryin' to do, make me sick?!"

Eventually, Curtin would interrupt, asking her what her comments had to do with the question. Rosannadanna's response was, "Well, Jane, it just goes to show you, it's always something." She would then wrap up her comments by sharing a piece of advice passed down from a family member (often her father, but sometimes her "Nana" Roseannadanna; in one episode, she mentioned her aunt Pollyanna Roseannadanna, and in another, her "musical cosin, Carlos Santana Rosaeannadanna"). The character also had a tendency to refer to herself by her full name whenever possible, and often exaggerated her tribulations, saying, "I thought I was gonna die!"

Commentary from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/)

If this posting is not relevant to your life: "Nevermind"

The question always was: Could Rodney Allen Rippy get his mouth around that burger ??

(See my earlier posting on Rodney Allen Rippy 8/24/2006)

How did Benjamin Franklin's kite experiment work ??

Benjamin Franklin's kite experiment has grown into an American legend. Almost everyone has heard of Franklin's famous experiment, but few of us actually understand how the experiment worked. When a storm cloud passed over Franklin's kite the negative charges in the cloud leaked onto his kite, his kite string, his key, and a Leyden jar attached to the key by a thin metal wire. Franklin however, was unaffected by the negative charges because he was holding a dry silk string which insulated him from the charges on the key. When Franklin reached out his knuckle to touch the key he received a shock, because the negative charges in the key were so strongly attracted to the positive charges in his body that a spark jumped from the key to his hand. Franklin's experiment successfully showed that lightning was actually static electricity.

AND . . . my favorite Benjamin Franklin "quote" from his autobiography:

"So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do."

Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)

Who would have guessed that it would come to this ??

Sept. 7, 1907: The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals installed "a handsome new drinking fountain" at Main and Spring streets just north of 9th Street. The Times hailed the $50 fountain as "the only one of its kind in the West."

"At one side of the horse trough is a stationary nickel cup from which water constantly bubbles. This is for the use of human beings, who quench their thirst by placing the mouth in the flowing water and quaffing…. "Just above the sidewalk level is a small trough for the use of dogs." (From Los Angeles Times: Times Past)

Robert Service is my favorite poet . . . and such a wise man

Be master of your petty annoyances and conserve your energies for the big, worthwhile things. It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out - it's the grain of sand in your shoe.
Robert Service (1874 - 1958)

You can feel the passion that Robert Service felt for the Yukon and the period of the goldrush around 1898. He lived in Dawson during that historic period and an enormous love for the region and its legendary cast of characters evolved. Through his poetry you can experience the thrills, excitement and hardships of this period, and no one recreates this excitement better than Robert Service. Below we have one of his best:

The Spell of the Yukon

I wanted the gold, and I sought it;
I scrabbled and mucked like a slave.
Was it famine or scurvy, I fought it;
I hurled my youth into a grave.
I wanted the gold, and I got it --
Came out with a fortune last fall, --
Yet somehow life's not what I thought it,
And somehow the gold isn't all.

No! There's the land. (Have you seen it?)
It's the cussedest land that I know,
From the big, dizzy mountains that screen it
To the deep, deathlike valleys below.
Some say God was tired when He made it;
Some say it's a fine land to shun;
Maybe; but there's some as would trade it
For no land on earth -- and I'm one.

You come to get rich (damned good reason);
You feel like an exile at first;
You hate it like hell for a season,
And then you are worse than the worst.
It grips you like some kinds of sinning;
It twists you from foe to a friend;
It seems it's been since the beginning;
It seems it will be to the end.

I've stood in some mighty-mouthed hollow
That's plumb-full of hush to the brim;
I've watched the big, husky sun wallow
In crimson and gold, and grow dim,
Till the moon set the pearly peaks gleaming,
And the stars tumbled out, neck and crop;
And I've thought that I surely was dreaming,
With the peace o' the world piled on top.

The summer -- no sweeter was ever;
The sunshiny woods all athrill;
The grayling aleap in the river,
The bighorn asleep on the hill.
The strong life that never knows harness;
The wilds where the caribou call;
The freshness, the freedom, the farness --
O God! how I'm stuck on it all.

The winter! the brightness that blinds you,
The white land locked tight as a drum,
The cold fear that follows and finds you,
The silence that bludgeons you dumb.
The snows that are older than history,
The woods where the weird shadows slant;
The stillness, the moonlight, the mystery,
I've bade 'em good-by -- but I can't.

There's a land where the mountains are nameless,
And the rivers all run God knows where;
There are lives that are erring and aimless,
And deaths that just hang by a hair;
There are hardships that nobody reckons;
There are valleys unpeopled and still;
There's a land -- oh, it beckons and beckons,
And I want to go back -- and I will.

They're making my money diminish;
I'm sick of the taste of champagne.
Thank God! when I'm skinned to a finish
I'll pike to the Yukon again.
I'll fight -- and you bet it's no sham-fight;
It's hell! -- but I've been there before;
And it's better than this by a damsite --
So me for the Yukon once more.

There's gold, and it's haunting and haunting;
It's luring me on as of old;
Yet it isn't the gold that I'm wanting
So much as just finding the gold.

It's the great, big, broad land 'way up yonder,
It's the forests where silence has lease;
It's the beauty that thrills me with wonder,
It's the stillness that fills me with peace.

The Castle Montefrio in Spain with the magic of a cloudy day

The Senior Citizen version of "ARE YOU LONESOME TONIGHT ??"

(I wonder what Elvis would have thought ??)

Are you lonesome tonight?
Does your tummy feel tight?
Did you bring your mylanta and tums?

Does your memory stray,
To that bright sunny day,
When you had all your teeth and your gums?

Is your hairline receding?
Your eyes growing dim?
Hysterectomy for her,
And its prostate for him.

Does your back give you pain?
Do your knees predict rain?
Tell me dear, are you lonesome tonight?

Is your blood pressure up?
Good cholesterol down?
Are you eating your low fat cuisine?

All that oat bran and fruit,
Metamucil to boot.
Helps you run like
A well oiled machine.

If it's football or baseball,
He sure knows the score.
Yes, he knows where it's at
But forgets what it's for.

So your gallbladder's gone,
But your gout lingers on,
Tell me dear, are you lonesome tonight?

When you're hungry, he's not,
When you're cold, he is hot,
Then you start that old thermostat war.

When you turn out the light,
He goes left and you go right,
Then you get his great symphonic snore.

He was once so romantic,
So witty and smart;
How did he turn out to be such
A cranky old fart?

So don't take any bets,
It's as good as it gets,
Tell me dear, are you lonesome tonight?

Author Unknown

Kinda scary, isn't it ??

Photo by Christian Z

Has this ever happened to you ??

They call it the Blue Whale

 The Blue Building opened in 1975 as the first phase of the Pacific Design Center, followed by the Green Building in 1988. The complex at Melrose Avenue and San Vicente Boulevard is the West Coast's largets home-furnishings center.
(Photo by Anne Cusack) 

Ghostly Gator visiting Los Angeles

 The Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens recently received a rare white alligator on loan from a zoo in Florida. The alligator is an albino; it lacks pigment in his skin, so it appears white. Albinism can occur in any animal.


This alligator would have a hard time in the wild because animals that don't blend in with their surroundings can be quickly eaten by predators, usually before they grow up. Standard-colored alligators don't have a problem concealing themselves in their swampy homes. It also helps that their eyes, ears and nostrils are placed on the top of their heads. This enables an alligator to see, hear and breathe while the rest of its body is hidden underwater. Unfortunately for their prey, alligators are not picky eaters. They will eat almost anything they can catch, including smaller alligators.

Have you ever seen an alligator sitting outside the water with its mouth wide open? It isn't waiting for the dentist to check its teeth. It's actually cooling down. If you are outside playing on a hot day, your body sweats to keep cool. Alligators can't sweat, so they loose heat by "gaping" — opening their mouths to cool off.

Alligators are classified within a group of reptiles called the crocodilians, which also includes crocodiles, caimans and gavials. The easiest way to tell a crocodile from an alligator is by looking at the snout. Alligators have a broader, more rounded snout as opposed to the crocodile's long, slender snout.

From now until Oct. 31, you can view this rare white alligator at the Los Angeles Zoo. When you go, remember to give him a smile, but don't call him a crocodile!

For zoo information, call (323) 644-4200 or go to http://www.lazoo.org . 

Enjoying the fill of victory . . .

As the curious crowd counted down — "four, three, two, one!" — Joey Chestnut hovered over a plate of lukewarm Japanese gyoza dumplings. Flanked by a dozen other "gurgitators" in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo, he gritted his teeth and readied himself.

Months of voracious training — gorging on food and guzzling up to three gallons of water a day to keep his innards stretched — have turned the stocky 22-year-old San Jose State engineering student into a red-hot newcomer on the competitive-eating circuit. It's a regular feeding frenzy that's part circus sideshow, World Wrestling Entertainment farce and novelty endurance sport.

The 225-pound Chestnut has set world consumption records for deep-fried asparagus spears (6.25 pounds in 10 minutes), grilled cheese sandwiches (47 in 10 minutes), pork ribs (8.4 pounds in 12 minutes), waffles (18.5 half-pound waffles in 10 minutes) and horseshoe sandwiches, a concoction that includes ham, French fries and a cheesy sauce (6.3 pounds in 12 minutes).

Chestnut kept a wary eye on the petite 100-pound woman beside him. No average eater, this was Sonya "the Black Widow" Thomas. One of only a handful of female competitors, she is one of the most dominant eaters on the circuit.

The Korean-born Thomas, from Alexandria, Va., holds two dozen records — including 552 oysters in 10 minutes and 11 pounds of cheesecake in nine. Like a black widow spider, she says she wants to eliminate the men.

So far, Chestnut and Thomas have split a dozen showdowns. He recently overtook her for the No. 2 spot in the federation rankings, behind Takeru "the Tsunami" Kobayashi of Nagano, Japan. Power eating's greatest legend, Kobayashi holds the record for cow brains (17.7 pounds in 15 minutes) and once challenged a Kodiak bear to a two-minute eat-off. (He lost.)

So far, Chestnut has avoided the dreaded reversal of fortune, at least during a competition, which would result in disqualification. Even the best eaters aren't immune to the gag reflex. At the Coney Island contest, Chestnut said he saw bits of hot dog come out of Kobayashi's mouth and pointed out the potential violation to referees. He was overruled but didn't complain. "That's not the way I want to win," he said.

That day, Chestnut lost to Kobayashi by 1 1/2 hot dogs. He took it hard. "It's a July Fourth hot dog contest on Coney Island — how American is that?" he said. "You don't want to lose to anybody, but especially someone from another country."

Chestnut pledges to beat Kobayashi for power eating's No. 1 ranking. But the hot dog loss still lingers like heartburn.

(excerpts from an article by John M. Glionna

THE LEGEND LIVES ON . . .

 High above San Francisco’s western edge, where the continent ends in a rocky plunge to the Pacific, the Cliff House occupies a unique spot in the affections of the City by the Bay. Since 1863, three incarnations of the restaurant (one resembling a French château) have watered and fed admirers, including U.S. presidents, Hearsts, Stanfords, and just plain folks who have come to gape at the transcendent meeting of land, sea, and sky.

The above image is by Patty Nason.

  The third version was built in 1909 after the château burned down. Sadly, in recent times, visitors to this neoclassical Cliff House—1.5 million of them a year—have found it in shabby condition, its concrete exterior eroded by salt air and cluttered with clunky additions.

In October, 2004, after 21 months and $18 million, the landmark was reborn yet again. Architects restored the 1909 structure and paired it with a light-filled, modernist building whose two-story glass walls overlook the ocean, the Marin headlands, and the ruins of Sutro Baths, a 19th-century pavilion of six saltwater swimming pools. The blend of vintage and modern has brought fresh energy and new generations to the old gathering place. (Commentary by Christopher Hall)

Below is a brief history in photos of the spectacular Cliff House which was first built in 1863.

THE CLIFF HOUSE: Evolution of a Legend in San Francisco

1863 First Cliff House built by C. C. Butler and John P. Buckley

1865 Cliff House: According to Marilyn Blaisdell's book on the Cliff House... "James Cook, a circus performer, who The Alta California says could not swim, attempted a tightrope walk from South Seal Rock to the land beside the Cliff House on Sunday, September 24, 1865. He disappointed the crowd of thousands when the bad weather forced him to reconsider the balancing act. A rowboat brought him back to shore. Three days later however he successfully made the approximately 150 yard journey. A year later Miss Rosa Celeste, eighteen, performed the same feat and better -- round trips -- on three occasions. For these promotions the Cliff House sold reserved seats on its balcony for a dollar. Another publicity stunt featured stiff upper lipped Millie Lavelle, who, gripping a bit between her teeth (the bit connected to a trolley on a wire cable), coasted under the wire across to Seal Rocks."

1868 Cliff House

1896 New Cliff House opens (first Cliff House burned to the ground in 1894)

1896 Cliff House

1907 newsclipping

1907 Cliff House: On September 7th, 1907 the Cliff House caught fire while being remodeled and burned completely to the foundation...

1907 Cliff House: the ruins after the fire

1909 Cliff House: Adolph Sutro's daughter, Dr. Emma Merritt, rebuilt the Cliff House to a more modest scale, a neo-classical design by the Reid Brothers, architects of the Fairmont Hotel.


1909 Cliff House at night

1937 newsclipping

1937 Cliff House: In an interview with John Martini, George Whitney Jr. said his dad used to go into the closed Cliff House during the early Depression and fantasize about reopening it. He used to borrow the key to the CH from "the Sutros", go into the main dining room and pull up a chair in the southwest corner where he could look over Ocean Beach and Playland, and dream about expanding the Whitney empire, which of course is exactly what he did.

1949 Cliff House remodeled

For more information on the legendary Cliff House visit the Cliff House Project (http://www.cliffhouseproject.com/)

The mystic who was an enigma

Edgar Cayce (1877-1945)

Looking at the biographical and autobiographical material surrounding the life of Edgar Cayce it seems to become more and more of a mystery. The main landscape of Cayce’s life seemed to become an enigma, an amazing portrait of contradictions. He was a man who purportedly did not consciously know what he was doing as a psychic nor understand most of the product of his psychic work. Yet, he consistently delivered far-ranging concepts about history and the future which have become more and more valuable as 20th century science has caught up to and confirmed many of his statements.

He gave thousands of medical diagnoses which saved countless lives and made him justifiably world-famous, yet he was so detached from his work, which he long regarded suspiciously and experimentally, that it did not occur to him to "read" a cure for his own infant son, who died before Cayce realized what was happening. At one point he was so troubled by his talent, he refused to "read", even for his wife’s tuberculosis condition, relenting only when he realized that she was near death and that both she and the doctors had given up.

Though often perceived as (and called) "the freak" as a young man, his personal sincerity and dedication to his egalitarian ideals created the legacy of friendship and family which has endured to this day and has sustained the transmission of what came through him.

He was a socially naive man, often easily manipulated, whose psychic information and predictions made many small fortunes and some large fortunes for several individuals. He was genuinely able to "read" where multi-million dollar fortunes would be made, yet he was so blind to the motivations of others, the people whom he read for could and did leave him with an empty bag for his efforts, and not just once.

He could have easily acquired millions of dollars directly in gambling, but considered that use of his talent a desecration of his deeply held religious beliefs, a taking advantage over others. Indirectly he could also have made millions in the employ of others, but he turned down several offers by powerful, wealthy men who would make him a personal or world guru on condition of exclusive access to his talent. He just wanted to help people realize their connection with God.

Do you know the story behind TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME ??

This song was written in 1908 by a man named Jack Norworth. One day when he was riding a New York City subway train, he spotted a sign that said "Ballgame Today at the Polo Grounds." Some baseball-related lyrics popped into his head, that were later set to some music by Albert Von Tilzer, to become the well known baseball song, "Take Me Out To The Ballgame." Despite the fact that neither Norworth or Tilzer had ever been to a baseball game at the time the song was written, it is one of the most widely sung songs in America.

Nelly Kelly loved baseball games,
Knew the players, knew all their names,
You could see her there ev'ry day,
Shout "Hurray" when they'd play.
Her boy friend by the name of Joe
Said, "To Coney Isle, dear, let's go,"
Then Nelly started to fret and pout,
And to him I heard her shout.

"Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack,
I don't care if I never get back,
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don't win it's a shame.
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,
At the old ball game."

Nelly Kelly was sure some fan,
She would root just like any man,
Told the umpire he was wrong,
All along, good and strong.
When the score was just two to two,
Nelly Kelly knew what to do,
Just to cheer up the boys she knew,
She made the game sing this song.

"Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack,
I don't care if I never get back,
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don't win it's a shame.
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,
At the old ball game."

(1927 version)

San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge glows in the fog

Photo by Myung J. Chun

The end is near . . . Houghton is a little farther

"Stonehenge Over Santorini"

by Jeff Gilberthorpe (createchart.com.au)

"Gregoriou Monastery"

by Luke Dingman (http://foreign-artists-in-greece.blogspot.com/2006/08/6-athos.html)

"Shipwreck off Mount Athos"

by Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (topofart.com)

Round and Round and Round We Go . . .

by Escher

Let's try to look at the brighter side . . . some people don't know when they're well off

"The Hunting Party"

This lovely work of art is available at: intofineart.com

BASEBALL GONE BATTY: where the fans help manage the team

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — Weary from the trip to Kansas City, where his Schaumburg Flyers just lost their 12th straight game, Manager Andy McCauley drops by his boss' office to learn which players the Internet masses have chosen for him to start. "This is the strangest one yet," warns Rich Ehrenreich, the minor league team's president and managing partner. Nothing unusual about the field positions. But as Ehrenreich runs through the batting order against the Joliet JackHammers, McCauley lowers his forehead to his hand and wonders what the fans were thinking.

An outfielder who often bats last is leading off. The second spot, usually reserved for a hitter who runs well and gets on base often, is occupied by a big catcher who does neither. The slugger who normally bats fourth is dropped to sixth. "It makes no sense," Ehrenreich concedes. "But you know what? It could be just goofy enough to work."

"Just goofy enough to work" may well prove to be the operating principle of the Flyers' experiment with fan-picked lineups as part of "Fan Club: Reality Baseball," an Internet show that takes fantasy baseball leagues to new levels of interactivity. Ehrenreich agreed to let fans, voting online, decide the team's starting lineup each night. Diehard supporters, opposing fans and Web surfers who know nothing about the team all have an equal say about which Flyers play and which ride the pine.

"It's 'Bull Durham'-meets-fantasy-sports come to life," said Larry Tanz, chief executive of LivePlanet, the Santa Monica-based production company that created the reality show, which can be seen on Microsoft Corp.'s MSN Video website and at fanclub.msn.com. But in reaching out to his customers, Ehrenreich has ticked off his manager, many of his players and even some fans. They say the promotion threatens the integrity of baseball.

"No one, I don't care what your job is, likes to be told what to do, let alone from 10,000 guys sitting on their couches," McCauley said.


(excerpts from an article by Chris Gaither)