Pirate1974

Ditto

Never heard of that. We have confirmation in the Lutheran church too, but they don't do the name thing.

Pardon my Protestant ignorance, but what is a "confirmation name?"

My parents were both raised in Iowa and came south the first chance they got, almost 50 years ago, and never considered going back. Every winter they like to check the temperature in Des Moines to remind them of why they left. Its cold here today, in the 30s, but it was in the upper 70s last week.

The funny thing to me about all this that apparently it was OK for Kid Rock to be part of a USO tour in 2003 that performed for troops in Kuwait and Iraq. Don't remember any big fuss about that. And it was OK for him to headline a party at the Republican National Convention this past August at which the Bush twins were spotted partyin' down. Didn't see any editorials about that one. Of course there were votes at stake then, and now that they've all been counted (more or less) folks are outraged that Kid would even be considered for the inaugural.

The First Twins, Jenna and Barbara Bush, are "sponsoring" a concert called America's Future Rocks Today on January 18th as part of daddy's inauguration celebration. For weeks its been rumored that Kid Rock would be invited to perform since the twins are supposed to be fans of his and Kid has come out as a Bush supporter. Well, apparently, some folks don't consider Kid Rock to be quite right for the family values crowd. An intense e-mail campaign by members of the Campaign for Children of Families (?) and the American Family Association led to the announcement that Kid hasn't been invited and never would have been. Of course, this rumor has been going around for more than two weeks and it was just announced Thursday, so the AFA is congratulating themselves for their "Kid Rock Victory." Whatever. The lineup now includes Gloria Estefan, Hilary Duff (yawn), JoJo (who?), Three Doors Down, and Ruben Studdard. No controversy there. Hard to know which of Kid Rock's R-rated lyrics might have prompted the e-mails, but here's a sample from his "Pimp of the Nation:" Pimp of the Nation, I could be it As a matter of fact, I foresee it But only pimpin' hoes with the big tush While you be left pimpin' Barbara Bush Oops.

I'm in a crowd scene in the Whoopi Golberg movie "Eddie." Part of it was filmed in Charlotte and they made the Charlotte Coliseum look like Madison Square Garden, more or less. Anybody that wanted to come and sit in the stands and be part of the crowd could do it. Got a free lunch out of it. The plot was that Whoopi won a contest to be the coach of the New York Knicks for one game and ends up being the coach for real. Ridiculous, of course. The big climax was the Knicks defeating the Charlotte Hornets for the championship, so we all had to be Knicks fans and cheer against the Hornets. We all had to stand up and go crazy at the end of the "game" about 50 times until they got the shot they wanted. If you were dressed up, men in ties or women in dresses, you got to go down and run out on the court to celebrate with the players. Those poor folks had to run on and off the court about 20 times. They were worn out. Interesting experience watching a movie being filmed. They can take two hours to set up a scene that lasts 15 seconds on the screen. One of the funny things was that because all the seats were not filled, they used these cardboard people to put in the empty seats. It was like five different people repaeated over and over again. We took some of them and lined them up so there were like 10 identical people sitting in one row. Its an absolutely wretched movie and I'm sure it bombed at the box office. I've rented the thing and tried to find myself in the crowd without any luck.

Prince Harry has been caught smoking marijuana and drinking under-age, he got in a fight with a photographer, he may have gotten grades in school that he didn't deserve and now this little incident. He'll make a perfect British army officer.

I thought it jumped when Chris Noth left. It hasn't been near as good since.

It tells me that Frank Galvin would hit Laura Fischer if she was annoying him. It tells me nothing about whether Paul Newman would ever hit Joanne Woodward under the same circumstances. Somehow I doubt it. Clint Eastwood punched Jessica Walter in the face, threw her off a balcony and over a cliff in "Play Misty For Me." Then she was trying to kill him so I guess you could say she had it coming.

It wasn't exactly a "patch." It was the uniform of the German Afrika Korps. It was a party, for God's sake. It wasn't like he wore it to a Nazi rally or anything. It was poor judgement but hardly an international incident. Typical British tabloid journalism.

If you're interested, here's a site that has a lot of authentic pictures: Wave of Destruction

Wally Cox wasn't in "Our Miss Brooks." He was in a show called "Mr. Peepers" where he played a science teacher. An interesting note about Wally Cox is that he and Marlon Brando were lifelong friends. When Wally Cox died, Brando was the one who scattered his ashes. You wouldn't think those two would have anything in common. I met Jerry Mathers (The Beaver) at a home and garden show where he was signing pictures. He wasn't drawing much of a crowd, nobody actually, and my wife and I talked to him for quite a long time. Very nice guy.

I always thought that a tidal wave or a tsunami was a giant wave that breaks on the beach like a normal wave, only bigger. Apparently, its not always like that. The waves that hit Sumatra were up to thirty feet high but some of the ones that hit Thailand were 12 feet or less, but still did tremendous damage. Its not the height, but the tremendous volume of water and how far inland it comes, like a hurricane storm surge. Here's some pictures taken from a hotel in Phuket, Thailand Unbelievable.

Yankees pitcher Randy Johnson says "hi" to the New York press on Monday.

This amazing series of photos shows the first of six tsunamis that hit Hat Rai Lay Beach near Krabi in southern Thailand. The first wave was estimated to be at least 20 feet high. As tourists first see the wave and start running for their lives, one person (far right) runs into the water, 37-year old Karin Svaerd, a policewoman from Sweden. She's going out to warn her children who are playing in the water and haven't noticed the wave yet. People who pass her, shout at her to get off the beach, but she keeps going. Some people seem to be oblivious to the danger as the wave gets closer and Karin runs right into it to try to reach her children. Just before Karin reaches her children (from left, Filip, 11, Anton, 14, and Viktor, 10) they, and other family members with them, see the wave coming and start to run. Seconds after this picture, the wave catches them all. Karin Svaerd survives by hanging on to a palm tree, but she has no idea what happened to the rest of her family. Amazingly, the wave swept them all to higher ground, where Karin's children, her husband Lars and her brother Per, were all unharmed. "I had to try to save my children. Nothing was going to stop me," she said later, "Terror was coming up inside me but I was so focused I just started running to my family. I could see this white wall coming toward me - I did not care. I was looking at my children. I wanted to hold them and protect them." Pretty incredible.

Apparently, its a tradition in Green Bay for the cheeseheads to actually moon the opposing team's bus as it leaves Lambeau Field. Supposedly that's what prompted Moss' version of "shake your booty" on Sunday. Doesn't make it any less classless.

Whatever was in my wallet at each meeting. Which usually wasn't very much. When I was in, there really wasn't any pressure to give any certain amount, but that was a long time ago.

I thought this ws a hoot: LAS VEGAS (January 6) - Despite suffering technical glitches that prompted jokes and guffaws, Bill Gates promised Wednesday that Microsoft Corp. would help millions of consumers stay seamlessly plugged into a world of digital music, movies, video games and television shows. In his seventh annual keynote speech at the annual International Consumer Electronics Show, Microsoft's chairman explained that the proliferation of broadband Internet access and the falling price of data storage are compelling people to put music, photos, movies and other aspects of their life into a digital format. "We predicted at the beginning of this decade that this would be a decade where the digital approach would be taken for granted," Gates told hundreds of technologists who gathered for his kickoff to the world's largest electronics show. "It's going even faster than we expected." But while promoting what he calls the "digital lifestyle," Gates showed how vulnerable all consumers - even the world's richest man - are to hardware and software bugs. During a demonstration of digital photography with a soon-to-be-released Nikon camera, a Windows Media Center PC froze and wouldn't respond to Gates' pushing of the remote control. Later in the 90-minute presentation, a product manager demonstrated the ostensible user-friendliness of a video game expected to hit retail stores in April, Forza Motor Sport. But instead of configuring a custom-designed race car, the computer monitor displayed the dreaded "blue screen of death" and warned, "out of system memory." The errors - which came during what's usually an ode to Microsoft's dominance of the software industry and its increasing control of consumer electronics - prompted the celebrity host, NBC comedian Conan O'Brien, to quip, "Who's in charge of Microsoft, anyway?"

I saw one story where this guy claimed he couldn't change the channel fast enough when the rat-eating part came on. Right. He just spent 27 months in prison and seeing people eating rats is going to make him sick? Hmmm. Sounds like the ultimate frivolous lawsuit. Its pretty hard to believe you could watch television at all and not have a good idea of what "Fear Factor" is all about. NBC runs promotions for it about every 10 minutes. "Let's say you're flipping through your 8,479 cable channels and you come across a program called "Eat Bugs For Money," wherein they bring out a large live insect, and the contestants secretly write down the minimum amount of money they would have to be given to eat it, and whichever one has the lowest bid has to actually do it. Admit it: YOU would watch this program. In fact, right now you're saying to yourself, "Hey, I wonder what channel that's on." Unfortunately, at present it's still in the conceptual stage. It's based on an idea from my editor, Gene Weingarten, who has publicly stated that he would eat a live adult South Florida cockroach (average weight: 11 pounds) for $20,000." - Dave Barry, The Miami Herald, 1991. Not exactly the premise of "Fear Factor" but pretty darn close. Dave should be the one suing NBC for stealing his idea.

We always called our grandparents grandma and grandpa. We thought that's what everybody did. My wife called hers mamaw and papaw, but then she was raised in the South. My sister's daughter was the first grandchild for my parents, and when she was just learning to talk she called my mother "Daney." Trying to say grandma, I guess, and that's how it came out so she's been Daney ever since, even to my kids. My wife's mother wanted to be called "Mimi." I have no idea why. Both grandfathers have always been "Papa."

A selection of other winners from past years: Warning on a brass fishing lure with a three-pronged hook on the end: HARMFUL IF SWALLOWED I guess it would be, especially if you happen to be a fish. Good thing fish can't read. Warning on a hand-held massager: DO NOT USE WHILE SLEEPING OR UNCONSCIOUS But I like a nice, relaxing massage when I'm unconscious Warning on a can of pepper spray: MAY IRRITATE EYES "May" irritate eyes? If I'm going to use this stuff, I want to be darn sure that it irritates eyes. Label on a dishwasher: DO NOT ALLOW CHILDREN TO PLAY IN THE DISHWASHER But it gets them so nice and clean Label on a baby stroller: REMOVE CHILD BEFORE FOLDING Warning on an electric drill made for carpenters: THIS PRODUCT NOT INTENDED FOR USE AS A DENTAL DRILL I never would have thought of using my Black & Decker reversible drill for a little do-it-yourself dentistry Warning on a box of birthday cake candles: DO NOT USE SOFT WAX AS EARPLUGS OR FOR ANY OTHER FUNCTION THAT INVOLVES INSERTION INTO A BODY CAVITY I don't even want to know why this warning is considered necessary. Warning on a manufactured fireplace log: CAUTION - RISK OF FIRE You would certainly hope so. It ain't much good otherwise. My personal favorite: Warning on a massage chair: DO NOT USE MASSAGE CHAIR WITHOUT CLOTHING NEVER FORCE ANY BODY PART INTO THE BACKREST AREA WHILE THE ROLLERS ARE MOVING Ouch!!!

It just seems pretty lame that every college sport from women's field hockey to Division 1AA football can have a playoff, but Division 1 football is a popularity contest, voted on by people who can't possibly see all the teams play. The 17th team in a 16-team playoff system would be disappointed, of course, just like the 66th team that doesn't get into the basketball tournament. You can't ever please everybody. Just one time I'd like to hear somebody in the NCAA say that keeping the bowl system is all about the money and not because they're concerned about the season being too long and players missing class time. Get real.

After seeing what really happened in Indonesia, the tidal wave in this movie seems pretty lame.

A group called Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch sponsors a contest each year, asking people to send in real wacky warning labels from actual products. They give out prizes for the best ones. Here are this years winners: Fifth Place - Label on a 9" x 3" plastic bag filled with air used as packing material (sent in by Christen Millard of Westerville, Ohio) “DO NOT USE THIS PRODUCT AS A TOY, PILLOW OR FLOTATION DEVICE." It could be a flotation device for your hamster. Fourth Place - Label on an electric hand blender, promoted for use in "blending, whipping, chopping and dicing" (sent in by Ken Stein of Berkeley, California) "NEVER REMOVE FOOD OR OTHER ITEMS FROM THE BLADES WHILE THE PRODUCT IS OPERATING." That has to be a special label put on there for the Berkeley, California market only. Third Place - Warning on a digital thermometer that can be used several different ways (sent in by Ann Marie Taylor of Camden, South Carolina) "ONCE USED RECTALLY, THE THERMOMETER SHOULD NOT BE USED ORALLY." Yikes!! There are people out there that need to be told this? Second Place - Label on a popular scooter for children (sent in by Matt Johnson of Naperville, Illinois) "THIS PRODUCT MOVES WHEN USED" Well, you would certainly expect it to do that, I think. First Place - Label on a toilet brush (sent in by Ed Gyetvai of Oldcastle, Ontario) "DO NOT USE FOR PERSONAL HYGIENE" Do they think people might try to use it to brush their teeth?