MacIver News Service | March 2, 2012
When Mother Nature spoils
About a month ago...
Groundhog handler John Griffith holds famed weather prognosticating groundhog Punxsutawney Phil up to the crowd before Phil makes his annual weather prediction on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, on the 126th Groundhog Day, February 2, 2012. Phil saw his shadow predicting six more weeks of winter. Photo: Reuters.
"The groundhog's seasonal forecasting accuracy is somewhat low. Phil's Winter prognostications have been correct only 39% of the time."
Crocuses are covered with raindrops on Feb. 28 in Dresden, eastern Germany. First signs of spring come up across the country. Getty Images
Wasn't Germany just creamed with a ton of snow?
A bee collects pollen from an almond blossom in early spring at park in
Then again...
Fun with Flipper
It’s not often that you can cross off something from your Bucket List three times. Yes, you read correctly, three times.
50 years ago today...what really happened
One of the greatest sports stories of all-time, with no live TV, no video, no e-mail, no Twitter, no Internet.
Great news from the Franklin Police Department
If you haven’t read the latest city of
This is very good news for the police department and the citizens of
Congratulations, Officer Harrison and best of luck to you.
It’s noteworthy that Officer Harrison began his new full-time duties in August of 2011. At that time, the city of
What if he's elected county supervisor? Would David Clarke’s sheriff’s department be next?
Goodnight everyone, and have an MFSB weekend!
“As always, we wish you love, peace and soul.”
Don Cornelius’ catch phrase on his TV show, Soul Train
It's Friday night. Time to unwind with our regular Friday night feature on This Just In.
The weekend has finally arrived.
The sun has set.
The evening sky has erupted.
Let's put controversy and provocative blogs aside for the rest of this work week and smooth our way into Saturday and Sunday.
Tonight, the Philly Sound of the 70’s.
Last month, Don Cornelius shot himself to death. He was 75.
Cornelius was the host of “Soul Train,” the black version of “American Bandstand,” from 1970-1993.
The show featured a popular theme song written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff who created the Philly Sound.”TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)” opened the weekly program geared towards black music, fashion and dance. Performing the theme was MFSB, Mother Father Sister Brother, an ensemble of dozens of studio musicians. 70disco.com writes this about MFSB:
"Quality craftsmen were allowed to explore, expand a song's inner meaning while galloping from a smokin' jazz quintet to a 30-piece orchestra in a heartbeat. The group was velvet with a spine, a Love Unlimited Orchestra with grit. They consistently surprised with a theatrical flair."
Tonight, we feature some of their best instrumentals.
A Searchable Recall Signature Database Coming Soon as Recall Timing Picture Remains Cloudy
The Barking Lot (03/03/12)
The Barking Lot is a regular weekly feature of this just in…Written by my lovely wife, Jennifer and me. It opens with the weekend dog walking forecast followed by the main blog from dog lover, Jennifer. Then it’s DOGS IN THE NEWS and our close. Enjoy!
THE WEEKEND DOG-WALKING FORECAST: We grade the weather outlook for taking your pet outdoors.
TODAY: Snow showers. High of 34. Snow-covered streets and sidewalks. "F"
SUNDAY: A few show showers. High of 28. "F"
Here’s my lovely wife, Jennifer with this week’s main blog:
Long-time readers of The Barking Lot know that I have written about many aspects of canine psyches. I find it fascinating to learn new insights into the animal that is truly our best friend. Every week Kevin has news items highlighting how amazing, how noble, how incredible our pets are. I’m sorry but you just never see a news item about how iguanas wake their families to save them from house fires or how a cat dialed 9-1-1 for its owner having an epileptic seizure. Dogs are special. Period.
I’ve blogged about the science of a dog’s brain; that dogs express emotions like humans; and wondered if your dog loves you. Now a new book by author and pet behavior specialist Sarah Whitehead seeks to enlighten owners with ideas of what is going on in their dogs’ minds.
For pet parents scratching their heads at their fur-baby’s behaviors, Clever Dog could be just the thing they need. Judged an insightful and easy read by Amazon.com customers in the
Monica Cafferky, a writer for the Mirror, took the book to the test with her own pooch Tilly. She shares her own experiences here.
Hopefully our dog won’t be a “head case” that mystifies our family. I like my dogs like I like my people: uncomplicated, low-maintenance and easy to be around. But if Fischer’s Future Fido seems to have one up on us, I’m sure I’ll turn to a book like Ms. Whitehead’s.
---Jennifer Fischer
Thanks, Jennifer!
Time now for DOGS IN THE NEWS, canines that made headlines the past week.
We begin with my good friend, Charlie Sykes, his wife, Janet, and Reggie.
Cuddle a dying pet? Think again.
Dog that mauled newborn is given reprieve.
WI officials revoke dog breeder's license.
Inmate allowed to publish book on aggressive dogs.
Dog yelps for four days before rescue.
Well-trained dog keeps teen on top of her diabetes.
Dog custody cases on the rise.
Can a bad dog change its stripes?
New rules in
Dog rescuers never give up.
Iditarod dogs go to the doctor. What's it really like out there?
An excerpt from,"Soldier Dogs."
Albuquerque dog becomes registered voter...MORE.
Oreo was put in the trash last month. The update.
Can Dog TV make a profit?
ATTENTION FAMILIES:
What is America's favorite dog?
Americans spend a lot on pets.
Opinion: Dog shows should be more like "American Idol."
Week-ends (03/03/12)
A look back at the people and events that made news the past week. Week-ends is a regular weekly feature of This Just In...
HEROES OF THE WEEK
Andrew Breitbart
Frank Hall...MORE...and MORE.
Dr. Mohammed Jawad
Michael King
Jessie Lee Donathan-Howard
Readers of the NY Daily News
AJ Hawk
Batman...I'm not so sure.
VILLAINS OF THE WEEK
Liberals in celebration
California teacher (scumbag)
Adoptive father in Ohio
Jail managers in Texas
DHS
Dating sites
Adrian Kline
Jimmy Ray Goodall
The New Orleans Saints...MORE
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
“The system, we are told, worked. That's always the second-last refuge of scoundrels. The system, we were told after the Watergate scandal, had ‘worked,’ even though it hadn't, not fully. The system had been truncated by a cheap political pardon, thereby allowing the main miscreant to spend 25 years walking on the beach, fashioning his own myth of persecution and redemption. In the case of Ryan Braun, whose suspension for allegedly taking one of those drugs of which baseball disapproves was overturned by an arbitrator last week, the ‘system’ did not ‘work’ because there should never have been a system in the first place, and Braun does not have his own San Clemente in which to hide. He will have to go out in public at least 162 times this year and own somebody else's dreadful mistakes. I do not envy him that job.”
Charles Pierce, staff writer for www.grantland.com
"An expert hired by Braun’s camp says a 'motivated' person could have easily interfered with those seals. Braun rather sinisterly claimed his legal team learned 'a lot of things' about the man who had possession of his urine for roughly 44 hours. The brain ponders what that man might have done. Put the sample in the fridge between curdled milk and leftover enchiladas? Left it next to a window cracked open?"
Lisa Olson of the Sporting News
“On February 24th, Ryan Braun stated during his press conference that "there were a lot of things that we learned about the collector, about the collection process, about the way that the entire thing worked that made us very concerned and very suspicious about what could have actually happened." Shortly thereafter, someone who had intimate knowledge of the facts of this case released my name to the media. I am issuing this statement to set the record straight.
I am a 1983 graduate of the
The upcoming movie liberals will absolutely hate
October Baby opens March 23 at the Ridge Cinema in
Recommended Reading (03/04/12)
Here are, in my view, interesting, noteworthy columns and articles from the past week that I highly recommend (You will note that on occasion, I do not endorse the opinions of the author and may point that out. Despite my disagreements, I still feel the piece is worth a read).
Braun's story flunks test, too
"We are apparently supposed to believe that the man who collected Braun’s sample went home, and began the process of altering it in what would have had to be a rather brilliant scientific way. Added synthetic testosterone to both A and B samples, resealed the sample without the lab detecting that he’d done that, then fooled lab testing as sophisticated as there is in sports. WikiLeaks wasn’t nearly this brilliant. We keep hearing these vague suggestions that he, Braun, might sue somebody. He ought to make sure he doesn’t get sued himself by Mr. Laurenzi, and have to face the discovery phase of a trial like that."
How I came to admire Andrew Breitbart
Unlike many of Breitbart’s friends and admirers who initiated a relationship with him, I was forced to relate with him. And I don’t like being forced to do anything.
My Most Popular Blogs (03/04/12)
As I post every Sunday, here are the ten most read blog entries of mine from the previous week. NOTE: some entries may have been posted prior to the past week.
1) FRANKLIN PROPERTY TAXPAYERS, HOLD ON TO YOUR WALLETS!
2) UPDATE: FRANKLIN PROPERTY TAXPAYERS, HOLD ON TO YOUR WALLETS!
3) Photos of the Week (02/26/12)
4) Great news from the Franklin Police Department
5) Sometimes blog ideas fall like manna from heaven
6) Daddy, can we talk about Ryan Braun?
7) Culinary no-no #266
8) When Mother Nature spoils
9) "So much for that recall effort"
10) Week-ends (03/03/12)
Photos of the Week (03/04/12)
1) Students comfort each other as they leave the scene of a shooting at
2) Doug Gasper, a ninth grader at
3) Alleged gunman T.J. Lane is escorted out of the Geauga County Courthouse Annex by deputies, Feb. 28, 2012, after his court appearance for shooting and killing three students and wounding two others at Chardon High School in Chardon, Ohio. Another student has died from wounds suffered in Monday's shooting rampage at the
4) In this Thursday, March 1, 2012 photo, Chardon High School students form a heart with their hands as a Chardon player attempts free throws during a Division I sectional semifinal high school basketball game at Euclid High School, in Euclid, Ohio. The students showed their support for the victims of a school shooting Monday at Chardon. (AP Photo/The Plain Dealer, John Kuntz)
5) Steve McDonald stands in the debris of his mother-in-law, Mary Osman's home. Osman was killed after a tornado touched down on Feb. 29 in
6) Tony Sherrard searches through debris that used to be his home for family keepsakes March 3, 2012 in
7) Robert Elliott sits in his damaged kitchen after a tornado struck his home in Harrison, Tenn., Saturday, March 3, 2012. Emergency crews desperately searched for survivors Saturday after a violent wave of
8) A school bus is crushed into a business on the east side of U.S. 31 in Henryville, Ind., after powerful storms stretching from the U.S. Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes in the north wrecked two small towns and killed at least eight people Friday, March 2. Photo: C.E. Branham / The News and Tribune via AP
9) A marijuana themed belt adorns the victim of an apparent drug-related execution in
10) A South Korean presidential body guard shoots a net at a "terrorist" during an anti-terror drill at the president's residence on Feb. 27, showcasing security preparations for an upcoming nuclear summit in Seoul. Photo: Kim Jae-Hwan / AFP - Getty Images
11) Nicholas Vollmann, a guide with BAM Marketing and Media, leads tour-goers down S. 2nd St. near National Avenue in Milwaukee describing the area where Jeffrey Dahmer used to find his victims. There were more protesters than paying customers. Journal Sentinel photos: Rick Wood.
12) An aerial view of an eastbound VIA passenger train that derailed in
13) Passengers alight from the Costa Allegra cruise ship at Mahe port in
14) The
15) A famous portrait of Jack Nicholson adorns a fake ID with the name Joao Pedro dos
16) U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a dinner honoring Iraq War veterans on Wednesday night. Photo:Joshua Roberts / Reuters
17) Demi Hines kisses her husband airman Michael Hines on the return of the USS Stennis to Naval Base Kitsap Bremerton on March 2 in Bremerton, Wash. Airman Hines finished his first deployment aboard the ship. Sailor Thomas Crawford greets his 6-week-old son, Casey Crawford, for the first time after arriving to the Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton aboard the USS Stennis.Photos: Elaine Thompson / AP.
18) Makpal Abrazakova trains her golden eagle Akzhelke outside her home
19) A wild turkey peeks inside a Bayside home on Saturday. Wild turkeys were reintroduced in
20) Strollers look at the green colored Grone creek near Goettingen, central
21) The northern lights shimmer over Kangerlussuaq in
22) This view of the Orion Nebula, incorporating infrared observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the European Space Agency's Herschel telescope, highlights fledgling stars hidden in gas and clouds.
23) Backdropped by the historic
24) New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez poses for photographer Nick Laham on photo day during baseball spring training, Monday in
25) Los Angeles Angels' Albert Pujols signs autographs as fans push one another to get something signed by Pujols after he finished up with his workouts at spring training baseball practice Monday, Feb. 27, 2012, in Tempe, Ariz.(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
26) For all you leg men, actress Angelina Jolie arrives before the 84th Academy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. Photo: Amy Sancetta / AP
27) Revellers celebrate Clean Monday by participating in a colourful "flour war," a traditional festivity marking the end of the carnival season and the start of the 40-day Lent period until the Orthodox Easter, in the port town of Galaxidi, some 125 miles northwest of Athens on Monday. Photo: Panayiotis Tzamaros / Reuters
28) A man lights his self-made cigar during a cigar rolling seminar at the XIV Festival del Habano in Havana, Cuba on Wednesday.This year focuses on the Cohiba brand and its famous El Laguito factory and the Romeo y Julieta brand. International sales of luxury Havana Cigars rose 9 per cent in 2011 despite the world financial crisis and antismoking laws, according to Corporacion Habanos
29) Donald Driver rehearses for the upcoming "Dancing with the Stars" with dance partner Peta Murgatroyd. Driver joins other athletes who have competed on past shows, including Hines Ward of the Pittsburgh Steelers. This season's lineup of stars will perform either the foxtrot or the cha-cha for the first time on live national television with their professional partners during the two-hour season premiere. Journal Sentinel photo: Rick Rowell
30) Marquette head coach Buzz Williams leaps as his team plays Georgetown during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, March 3, 2012, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jim Prisching)
31) Base jumper Jeff Provenzano leaps off the top of the The Water Club hotel in
32) People wait in beds during the The World's Biggest Breakfast in Bed Guinness World Record Attempt at Martin Place on March 2, in Sydney, Australia. Photo: Ryan Pierse / Getty Images
33) Artist Ben Wilson paints on a piece of discarded chewing gum on the Millennium Bridge, in London on Tuesday, Feb. 28.
34) From the New York Daily News: "Celebs love to experiment with their hairstyles, but there are some bad hair days that are so ridiculous, these stars will never live them down. From Mohawks to mullets and everything in between, take a look at the 'dos that will live on in infamy ... Ke$ha finally has a glam look ... sort of. In an attempt to prove that she's tougher than you, Ke$ha glued gold studs to the side of her head."
35) A model wears a creation for Comme des Garcons as part of the Fall-Winter, ready-to-wear 2013 fashion collection, during Paris Fashion week, Saturday, March 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)
AND FINALLY,
Yuko Sugimoto looks at the damage caused by a tsunami and an earthquake in
And you've probably never heard of Stan Stearns, but no doubt you've seen his work.
I Guess I'm Mean Cuz I'm Not GREEN
A few months ago I blogged about my anti-environmental love of light bulbs and clean dishes. Now that we are approaching the Spring Cleaning season, I’ll go a step farther with my carbon carelessness and say that I love things truly clean. Than means when I prepare chicken, I choose to use an antibacterial cleanser (Lysol all purpose happens to be my fave) on a paper towel to make sure I’m not spreading Mr. Salmonella around. You can’t see the creepy crawlies just waiting to make you sick. They don’t announce themselves like this:
Culinary no-no #267
THERE ARE THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF
FOOD BLOGS, BUT ONLY ONE CULINARY NO-
NO!
Observe.
Ahh. The avocado.
The wonder fruit.
All green and healthy.
And one of the handful of food items Kevin Fischer’s taste buds aren’t all that crazy about.
I mentioned this last December during Culinary no-no #255, a newly discovered Fischer factoid that caused some conversation amongst a few of my colleagues. One, whose name I won’t mention so I’ll just call her Dawn, was somewhat incredulous that I didn’t devour guacamole as gleefully and as often as she does. I also was the recipient of a mild, brief talking-to about how good avocados are for me (By the way, WORST possible argument to attempt to persuade me to sample something).
In my minute or so of research on the avocado, I learned that in some countries, it is mixed with chocolate to concoct…
That ain’t no grasshopper.
The same colleague whose name I won’t mention so I’ll just refer to her as Dawn insisted I try some of her Chinese last week, tofu dripping in brown sauce. It tasted like week-old french toast begging for flavor, any kind of flavor.
Little did she realize that she had served as inspiration for this blog at that least a baker’s dozen will be talking about Monday morning around the water cooler.
Play along with me, folks.
Observe.
OMG.
That is a quintessential culinary no-no. The naked hamburger. A complete and utter sacrilege.
Who eats a nothin' burger? Even my guacamole-lovin' colleague who I won't name so I'll just call her Dawn would never fathom such a meal passing her lips. You gotta load that lonesome beef up!
(Think you know where this is headed?)
Let’s see. In no particular order, I could easily adorn that bare beef with:
Cheese
Bacon
Tomato
Pickles
Onions (Raw or fried)
Olives
Mustard
Mayo
BBQ sauce
Lettuce
Mushrooms
Jalapenos
Fried egg
Hello, another burger
A brat patty
That great bastion of unbiased, common sense journalism, the Pulitzer Prize-winning
When it comes to burgers, the perfect patty is crucial but really just a starting point.
UPDATE: People Euthanizing Too many Animals
I recently blogged about PETA and their faux-fuzzy “love” of animals. What a joke.
A radio talk show host calls a woman a "slut"
He's liberal talker Ed Schultz. It happened in May of 2011:
