As Austin Powers would say, "Oh, behave!"

Here's the thing about leaving home - when you get where you're going, you're not home anymore.  So your behavior might require a little definition.

In Bali, the Indonesian resort Island, they have a sacred Hindu ritual on the Day of Silence (known locally as Nyepi, March 19.) It would never work out well for me, but for those 24 hours, everyone -  residents and visitors - has to stay in, in homes or hotels, keep the lights and the noise low, and perform quiet meditation.

Well, Swiss tourist Luzian Andrin Zgraggen, 26, couldn't/wouldn't comply, and as a result, he is serving a yearlong sentence because he was in Bali on vacation at the time of the holiday, and despite being briefed on the proper way to commemorate it by the staff where he was lodged, defiled it.

  

Here's how: Zgraggen became angry that he could not leave his hotel and strut around looking for food. Then, he “displayed his anger” on social media, according to his indictment.

 He posted videos of himself walking in the dark and saying it was "pretty peaceful  outside," and then he chose to curse about the religious holiday rules. Naturally, this was met with lots of negative comments, so he took down the videos, but as we all know, The Internet Is Forever, and people reposted the screen recordings they had made of his blasphemy.

In response, Zgraggen reposted his videos and said, "They want smoke."

He tried to apologize, but was met by the cybercrime unit of the Bali Police, and found himself charged with disseminating hate speech based on religion through electronic information.

His trial was last week and he was given a year in the Ironbar Hilton.

So, when you go away, when in Bali, follow the rules or don't plan on going home right away.

Simple enough. 

Sunday Rerun: That Shirtin' Feeling

 So, what do you do with your old shirts?

Speaking for myself, I wear them until they vanish. I once gave a few of my old T-shirts to the kids in the neighborhood who wore them around as beach coverups, too.

But - if you are friends with someone who you feel is destined to become a baseball legend, and that person offers you his soiled, game-worn jersey, hang on to that garment. Here's why:

You've heard of Babe Ruth, the baseball player from the streets of Baltimore, right? And probably, you have heard of his "called shot" in the 1932 World Series.

Ruth's Yankees were playing the Chicago Cubs in that "fall classic," and he was receiving maybe even more than his usual hoots and catcalls from the Windy City crowd. According to the legend of Ruth, he stopped for a moment to make sure all eyes were on him during game 3, as the shrieking reached a crescendo. It was then that Babe took a step out of the batter's box, and with his Ruthian bat, which was a whale of a war club at 35 ¾ inches and weighing approximately 38 ounces, he pointed to the deep center field stands without a word.

Then, he stepped back into the box and hit the next pitch right where he had pointed. Instant legend! Another chapter in the Book of Ruth.

Ruth, an expert shirtmaker himself (a trade he learned at the St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, having been shipped off there after a judge found him "incorrigible and vicious...beyond the control" of his parents) later gave the jersey he wore on that historic day to one of his golfing buddies, who really should have told his descendants to hang onto it!

Because...that "New York" uniform jersey sold this past weekend at auction for a sweet $24.1 million, making it the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia ever.

These Yankee fans have deep pockets! The previous record was the $12.6 million someone shelled out for a Mickey Mantle baseball card, and you can't even put that on and wear it around.

Well, you could, but there would be trouble.

 

The Saturday Picture Show, August 29, 2026

 

People were supposed to fill out recipe cards for a wedding shower, with hints for easy meal prep. It doesn't get much easier than ripping open a bag!

So here's another reason to buy a drone - they will clean your windows!

The Breakfast Club: Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall, Emilio Estevez, and Molly Ringwald. 1985 and now.

And...this is lovely Lake Ontario. Always and forever.

You can post all the no-fishing signs you care to. This scofflaw is going to fill his craw!

Not named for Earl, but this nest-maker is actually known as a Weaver Bird.

So you say the kids keep losing the remote, huh? I'll bet the guy who made this is an eighth-grade teacher who is tired of people losing the hall pass.

George cannot tell a lie. No one likes these spy cameras and we wish they would get them the flock out of here!

It's a fool who criticizes our fair city, or our football team. High hopes heading into this season!

Last week, Connie Smith surpassed the late Jean Shepard to become the longest-serving female member of the Grand Ole Opry, with 61 years on the stage! Her husband and #1 fan Marty Stuart was there, as always.

Thanks to the kids!

 According to Instagram, this took place at Westerly High School, and the only such school according to Google is in Rhode Island.

And that's where a group of students kept seeing a five-year-old kid named Ryder out there in the elements every morning - sun, rain, wind, snow (remember - it's New England!) waiting for the school bus.

His family had rigged up a patio umbrella, but you know how spotty their coverage is, and when the wind blows the rain sideways...well, you know that, too.

So the shop classes at Westerly saw this and decided NOT to do nothing. They made him a customized weatherproof shelter with room for the family to be with him while waiting for his ride. 

The kids in Carpentry Shop class get a little experience that will hold them in good stead as they prepare to learn their trade, young Ryder gets comfort and the feeling of gratitude, and seeds of good karma are planted in Westerly.

Please don't ever try to tell me that high school kids aren't great people. They are, even though a lot of adults try to jive their strides. 

Post-Parton Depression

I don't want to beat this drum any more than others already have, but hot-a-mighty, the toll has been hard to take these last few days.

• Hayden Panettiere, 36, known for "Nashville" and "Remember the Titans" and dozens of Neutrogena commercials (they let her go when she was dealing with depression following the birth of her daughter, and cited the morality clause in her contract, as if all those people running Neutrogena were not born of mortal women.)
• Shelley Fabares, 82, comic actress from "The Donna Reed Show," "One Day At A Time," and "Coach," plus three Elvis movies.
• Dolly Parton, 80, a woman beloved by just about everyone on earth for her charm, her talent, and her philanthropy.
• Jaye P. Morgan, 94, singer from the classic pop music era perhaps best remembered as bawdy "Jaye P. Morgone" from The Gong Show.
• Tim Curry, 80, British star from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and "Clue"

I have always noticed how often the "they go in threes" phenomenon seems to come true.  In this case, we are either two over the set of three, or one short of a second set of three. As always, time will tell.

We feel it hard when a favorite celebrity goes all the way home, and it almost seems like a death in the family for some of us some of the time. But watch, this December, when they publish the lost of those we lost this way, there will be about the same amount of the noted and celebrated who will not see 2027.

For those of us who will, let's try to make the best of everything.

Never the Twain

People have been quoting Mark Twain saying, "Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it" for 129 years now. Just let it rain for two days in a row, or let the scorching heat turn your front yard into one of those cocoa doormats, or let a blizzard maroon the kids at home for four days and someone will pull that one out of an old quote bag, and someone will say, "Yes, Mark Twain...very wise fellow."

Twain

And there is a case to be made for Twain's wisdom, but according to The Weather Channel, don't try to make it on the back of this quote, because he did everything but say it.

As the WC says, in in the late 1800s, Mark Twain was the top gun in American wit...sort of the Jimmy Kimmel of his time. And remember, there was no radio or TV or internet back then. The only way jokes got spread around was by newspaper, or maybe some cowboy taking them to Wichita with him on a cattle drive.

We know the "nobody does anything about it" quote came out this day in 1897 in the Hartford Courant, but it was printed in an unsigned editorial most probably written by Charles Dudley Warner, who was the editor of the Courant, and well-known in his own right for brilliant, incisive essays.

Warner

AND he lived next door to Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens, so maybe, when the paper landed on Twain's front lawn the next day, he enjoyed it so much that he said to Warner, "What a great line! I wish I had said it!"

And then Warner could have said, with some justification, "Don't worry. You will!"

With the luxury of history, I can tell both of these gentlemen that we can do a lot more about the weather than people could do in 1897. We're at a point that we know it's going to rain, with thunder and lightning. We know about when it will start and end, and how much precipitation to expect.

We just don't know how to make it start raining, which would be helpful in areas stricken by wildfire or drought, or how to make it stop, for the flood-ravaged parts of the country.

I'm sure Apple is hard at work on their new apps, iWishItWouldRain  and iWishItWouldStop.

 

 

Take tea and see

People who say they don't like tea are not really my cup of...well, you know...

Water is the #1 beverage worldwide, but I hate to tell you residents of Coffeeville, tea is second. Nearly two thirds of people around the world sip tea. 

I have three or four cups of tea daily in my Yeti mug, and lots of iced tea for dinner and after. Because of this, my health is something that people sometimes form a small mob to marvel at.

Here's why: Research is showing us that tea can protect your blood vessels, lower inflammation, aid relaxation and potentially boost your gut microbiome. There's a magazine called Life Sciences (been meaning to subscribe) in which scientists say tea is “Nature’s gift for promoting human health.”

Of course, we all know this is because tea contains many antioxidants, polyphenols and other beneficial plant compounds, according to Jenifer Bowman, a cardiac dietitian at UCHealth in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Of course, not everyone knows this, but no matter what kind of tea is in your mug - green, black, white and oolong - they all come from the same plant: Camellia Sinensis. 

It's been far too oolong since I've seen old Camellia.

And I want you to know that it's a consistent scientific finding that tea drinkers tend to live a little longer than those who don't drink tea.  This is because we tea drinkers do not engage in the kind of behaviors that shorten the lives of others: driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs, taking risks such as doing calisthenics on the roofs of buildings, and forgetting to put money in the kitty by the coffee machine at work.

And research shows that drinking tea promotes relaxation. Scientists did a study that says tea reduces anxiety and helps your memory, but only for things that you want to remember. Forgetting a lot of things is marvelous for those who want to relax.

Now what was I saying?