Oh, behave!

So, you're a fan of the Green Bay Packers, and you and your fiancé decide to go to Lincoln Financial Field,  home of football's Philadelphia Eagles, to see your team play the Eagles in exciting playoff action...

But you wind up in the upper deck, in front of some crapulous ninny who spent the length of the game vilifying you and your partner, on the grounds that you showed up togged out in Packers regalia.

The Eagles won the game, by the way.

As these things happen in Our Modern Era, every bit of the Eagles fan's foul tirade was captured on cell video, and has been viewed and reviewed 31 million times (and counting).

And, another good aspect of 2025 is that this hooligan's former employer, BCT Partners, specializes in DEI work. That's why the status "former" attaches to his work history. 

The as-yet-unidentified and probably-well-ashamed-by-now Eagles rooter is also barred for life from games at Lincoln F. Field.

So, a fun day at the football game for this fool, a day spent slinging vile insults at a woman whose only offense was wearing Packer green and gold. In return, he'll have to use the spare time he once spent at the games ironing out his revised resume. 

It's taking a long time, too long in fact, for some people (men) to realize that you just can't act like a misogynistic galoot anymore. 

On deck

 Baltimore loves Ray Lewis, the retired Raven known as the greatest linebacker of all time. 

He still shows up at home games, comes out and does his "squirrel dance" to fire up the crowd, and gets a heaping helping of Baltimore love.

But there's a reason why he fought so hard to make the tackles and interception he made, and there's a reason why he wore jersey #52 for his entire career.

When Ray was young, his mother was in an abusive relationship, and this caused him grief, as he wasn't big enough to challenge the abuser.

So he asked his mom for a deck of cards, and every spare moment he had, he dealt himself a card. And then he did push-ups corresponding to the number on the card. 

I guess he wore out that deck of 52, but the exercise paid off. There came a time when Ray was able to confront the man who was tormenting his mom.

The man cleared out.

If you ever saw an angry Ray Lewis, you would have, as well. 

Cane and able

I'm happy these days because my post-knee replacement rehabilitation has progressed to the point of "Goodbye walker, hello cane!"

Not having to push that walker around like that creepy movie producer Weinstein is a nice step forward, if you'll pardon the metaphor. 

I have to say, the tennis balls are essential. They help the walker glide. Why walkers don't come like this from the factory, I can't tell you. 

Anyway, I'm strutting around like Michigan J. Frog

from the old WB Network these days, and I was telling my old friend Lee, down Texas way, about it, because just the other day, he had a surgeon saw his leg in half and install a new knee. I wanted him to know he'll be strutting soon enough.

We're both history nuts, so before long, the topic turned to 1856, when, in the US Congress, Representative Preston Brooks, a slaveholder from South Carolina, beat the bejabbers out of Senator Charles Sumner, an abolitionist from Massachusetts. The whole thing started when Sumner made a strong speech against slavery, and the gentleman from South Carolina could not abide that.

Sumner almost lost his life in the attack, and was out of work until 1859. This sad affair contributed to the great divide in this country over whether it should be legal to own human beings. They fought a civil war over it, the outcome of which is still being debated deep down South.

I promise not to strike, or goose, anyone with my cane while I use it. I can't promise not to hook a shopping cart, or push an elevator button with it, but even if you are pro-slavery, I won't hit you. 

Heaven will take care of that. 

 

If you can't say something nice...

 Oh, how nice it would be if talented people were allowed to enjoy their lives, sharing their blessings and making people happy. 

I'm thinking of Karen Carpenter, the singer who performed with her brother Richard in the 70s and 80s. Her velvety contralto voice sweetened the air as The Carpenters had hit after hit. She comes to mind today because I read an interview with the late great Hal Blaine, the drummer who kept the beat on the greatest songs of the rock and roll era. 

As Karen and Richard began making records, she was the drummer, and his keyboards provided accompaniment to her divine singing. But her drumming, although good, was not great, and Herb Alpert, head of their record company, brought Blaine in to spice up the beat.

Hal arrived at the studio to find opposition from...the mother of Karen and Richard, who sought to make the decisions, musical and otherwise, for the duo. Blaine said that Mrs Carpenter was telling Richard he was the star, and had little regard for Karen's talent. She wanted him in the spotlight and Karen behind the drums, while she was ten times better as a singer than drummer. 

They wound up making great records, but Karen was never made to feel worthy. No wonder she developed the eating disorder that would cut her life way too short.

No one asked me for advice, but if you have a child who displays talent at some creative venture, how about encouraging them, and urging them to do their best? Why hurt them by belittling them?

Let's all sing!

Chances are, you know this Elvis song. It's "Kentucky Rain," recorded in the spring of 1969, and a fair-sized hit for the King in winter 1970.

Considered that it's about a guy whose mate took off unexpectedly, and he's tracking her through every podunk town in the Bluegrass State, it's a catchy tune, one that I've enjoyed singing with E in every empty car I've driven for these 53 years. 

And for every minute of those years, I thought that the line where he sings "And up ahead's another town..." I was thinking and singing "Another hedge, another town..."

Hey, I didn't know. At least I knew Jimi Hendrix wasn't saying, "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy!"

Now, let's all sing along!

 https://youtu.be/Czuc4q4axqU?si=O5HDyhQRtQymhIsk

Seven lonely days and a dozen towns ago

I reached out one night and you were gone

Don't know why you'd run, what you're running to or from

All I know is I want to bring you home

So I'm walking in the rain, thumbing for a ride

On this lonely Kentucky back road

I've loved you much too long, my love's too strong

To let you go, never knowing what went wrong

Kentucky rain keeps pouring down

And up ahead's another town that I'll go walking through

With the rain in my shoes (rain in my shoes)

Searching for you

In the cold Kentucky rain

In the cold Kentucky rain

Showed your photograph to some old gray-bearded men

Sitting on a bench outside a general store

They said, "Yes, she's been here"

But their memory wasn't clear

Was it yesterday?

No, wait, the day before

Finally got a ride with a preacher man who asked

"Where you bound on such a cold dark afternoon?"

As we drove on through the rain, as he listened, I explained

And he left me with a prayer that I'd find you

Kentucky rain keeps pouring down

And up ahead's another town that I'll go walking through

With the rain in my shoes (rain in my shoes)

Searching for you

In the cold Kentucky rain

In the cold Kentucky rain

In the cold Kentucky rain

In the cold Kentucky rain

In the cold Kentucky rain

In the cold Kentucky rain

In the cold Kentucky rain

Songwriters: Eddie Rabbitt / Dick Heard

Sunday Rerun: Tell the teacher we're surfing

 I always thought that no day at work should go by without at least one laugh. And I used to love leaving gag messages for other people in other offices, such as "Just tell her I have arrived in Venice to find the streets flooded. What to do?"  

I only steal from the best. That one was from Robert Benchley. 

Now, about the real things going on in Venice: the mayor over there got up a search to for two unidentified miscreants who were using motorized surfboards to zip around the canals over there. These two jokers turned out to be Australian tourists who left a lot of commotion in their wake. And now the mayor wants them to be assessed big fines.

Mayor Luigi Brugnaro called them "imbeciles"  and said they were making a mockery of Venice.

Hizzoner had a great way to round up these surfin' dudes: he offered a free Italian dinner to anyone who could help bring the pair to justice.

"Venice is NOT Disneyland," the mayor wrote on a post showing video of the No Beach Boys hanging ten under an arched bridge in the city's serenely beautiful Grand Canal.

It didn't take long for the two to be arrested, their boards seized, and trials looming.

According to the local newspaper, La Nuova di Venezia e Mestre, the two Popeyes received fines of 1,500 euros (about $1,509), and still the mayor wants them tried for the crime of harming Venice's image.

Four years ago, Venice passed a new law forbidding personal watercraft such as paddleboards and kayaks from its municipal waterways. The gondolas and vaporetti (water buses) could hardly make their way around for all the tiny crafts afloat.

In our country, any time there is flooding or high tides due to hurricanes and whatnot, a large contingent of people with kayaks, surfboards, rafts, and canoes just about break their necks to get out on that extra water. 

Why they do this, we may never know. 

  

The Saturday Picture Show, January 11, 2025

 

It's fortunate that we didn't deal with iced-over trees from this week's snowstorm. It was the most snow we've seen for years, and it was enough to deal with!

Some of the old microwaves looked enough like TVs that you could watch the Today show on them while your muffin toasted. 

I'm still not certain this isn't AI...I don't recall seeing (or hearing!) a keyboard boom box!

Today's free wallpaper reminds us of how pretty fog is until you have to drive in it!

Is someone 👀 out there with a timer?

If you force a fruit or vegetable to grow into a certain shape or appearance, plant and raise it in a formed mold. Not recommended for children. 

Someone knitted a scarf that brings along its own toys!

Popular new menu item comes with fries and a small salad. 

They do not mess around in China, no they do not. If you don't want to sell your property to make room for a new highway, they'll just make your property part of the highway! 

I'm not saying you shouldn't do this to your cat. I am saying, you will owe your cat a lot of treats and its own blanket in a nice warm spot.