Here's What Happened The Year I Graduated H.S.

     (Satire)

Way back when I was a young pup and still wet behind the ears (in 1966) these are some of the things I said or might have said before I became a fan of history in my latter years.



Jan 1st - All US cigarette packs have to carry "Caution Cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health"
Damned I never looked at the 35 cent pack when I whipped out a cig back then.

Jan 12th - LBJ says US should stay in South Vietnam until communist aggression ends
Now I'd say..Glad that didn't happen or we'd still be there.

Jan 16th - Metropolitan Opera House opens in Lincoln Center
At 18 I'd probably would have said where's that in Washington? What's opera?

Jan 29th - Snow storm in north east US kills 165
Yippee snow day.. off from school.

Feb 11th - SF Giant Willie Mays signs highest contract, $130,000 per year
OMG, that's way too much money.

Feb 25th - Syrian military coup under Hafiz al-Assad
I hope things settle down over there.

Mar 2nd - 215,000 US soldiers in Vietnam
Oh shit, I'm 1-A

Mar 6th - Barry Sadlers' "Ballad of the Green Berets" becomes #1 (13 weeks)
Yeah but did ya hear "Strawberry Fields Forever" reached #8?

Mar 15th - Racial riots erupt in the Watts section of Los Angeles
Huh? Even bears don't crap in their own backyard.

Mar 17th - US sub locates missing H-bomb in Mediterranean
What's that doing over there in the first place?

Mar 18th - Scott Paper begins selling paper dresses for $1
Note to self.. take a walk on a rainy day.

Mar 24th - Selective Service announces college deferments based on performance
Does this mean only dummies like me...

Mar 29th - Muhammad Ali beats George Chuvalo in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
Hey does this mean Cassius Clay doesn't have to go either? WTF!

Mar 31st - 25,000 anti war demonstrators march in NYC
Stay out of 'Watts', it's a mess out there

May 16th - Beach Boys' "Pets Sounds" is released
Never heard of it.

May 21st - "Downtown" by Mrs Miller hits #82
What a voice.

May 28th - "Ballad Of Irving" by Frank Gallop hits #34
What's he gay or what?

May 30th - 300 US airplanes bomb North Vietnam
Yadda, yadda another typical day. Will that end it so I don't have to go?

Jun 6th - NFL & AFL announce their merger
Does this mean lower salaries and ticket prices?

Jun 10th - Mamas & Papas win gold record for "Monday, Monday"
Damn I thought Cass Elliot would look a lot sexier judging by her voice.

Jun 13th - Supreme Court's Miranda decision; suspect must be informed of rights
Well I guess it's better then cops shooting them first.

Jul 1st - Medicare goes into effect
Yeah. I sure hope this will pay 100% of my medical expenses when I get to be an old fart..

Jul 4th - LBJ signs Freedom of Information Act
Thank goodness. Now we'll know everything the government is up to.

Jul 5th - NYC transit fare rises from 15 cents to 20 cents
That's crazy. How much higher can they go?

Jul 29th - Bob Dylan hurt in motorcycle accident near Woodstock NY
God's sake, I hope this doesn't affect his singing voice speech patterns..

Jul 30th - US airplanes bombs demilitarized zone in Vietnam
Kind of silly calling it a "demilitarized zone", no?

Aug 6th - US citizens demonstrate against war in Vietnam
Kind of makes sense since "illegals" don't have to go, right?

Aug 20th - Beatles pelted with rotten fruit during Memphis concert
What the Hell? Who were these ticket holders expecting to show up, Ted Nugent?

Aug 22nd - Beatles arrive in NYC
Hope New Yorkers have better sense then to waste perfectly good fruit.

Aug 27th - Race riot in Waukegan, Illinois
God sakes. This is like the 10th one this year. Hope this ends the problem for once and all.

Sep 8th - "Star Trek" premieres on NBC-TV
It's a keeper!

Sep 11th - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
12th one this year so far. What is it yet scientists don't know?

Sep 11th - Rolling Stones perform on Ed Sullivan Show
I couldn't hear them. Too many screaming girls hot for sexy looking Mick I suppose.

Sep 22nd - Only 413 show up at a Yankee Stadium game
Who cares. They still have those network broadcast contracts.

Sep 24th - France performs nuclear test at Fangataufa Island
What we're still too stupid to know what these bombs will do?

Sep 30th - USSR performs underground nuclear test
Keep going until we crack the Earth, poison the water and/or be able to annihilate the human race 10x's over.

Oct 4th - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
SEE ABOVE

Oct 14th - 175 US airplanes bomb North Vietnam
Still at it I see.

Nov 6th - 1st entire lineup televised in color (NBC)
Damn the peacock network. Wish I had a color TV. Seems only the rich can afford them.

Nov 8th - Movie actor Ronald Reagan elected Governor of California
This guy ain't going nowhere.

Nov 24th - The Beatles began recording sessions for "Sergeant Pepper"
Who's this Sergeant Pepper"?

Dec 28th - China performs nuclear test at Lop Nor, PRC
Merry Christmas. Last test of the year. Wonder if Iran will ever get one and where they'll test it?

Dec 30th - The cult classic "One Million Years B.C.", starring Raquel Welch, is released
Gotta love history. Who the hell knew babes back then looked like that!



Source for the above:
'History Orb'

On This Day The Vatican Library Announced ....

On April 12, 2012 the Vatican library announced plans to start digitizing and making accessible some 1.1 million ancient pages from their archives over the internet in partnership with the Bodleian Libraries @ University of Oxford

Here's what's available so far online from Bodleian Libraries @ University of Oxford in England and at the Vatican itself in Italy.

I am, astounded how far technology and the internet has come. Think about it. One click above and your transported to Europe in an instant. Then able to see what only a handful of people were privileged to have ever seen. All without the expense for lodging and travel. Nor most likely ever being granted permission to go inside. I, for one, am very impressed.




Amazing... Simply Amazing !

What We Watch On TV

A number of people have cut the cord by dropping their cable TV subscription. I have also considered this.

Thus I decided to take inventory looking into the programs we currently watch along with those we used to and wouldn't be able to either then or now if we didn't have the cable.

Those listed in red are not available over-the-air in this localePresent ProgramsGood Witch- Hallmark
60 Minutes- CBS
Madame Secretary- CBS
The Good Wife- CBS
Call The Midwife- PBS
Mr. Selfridge- PBS
NCIS-LA- CBS
Castle- ABC
NCIS- CBS
NCIS-N.O.- CBS
Person On Interest- CBS
Forever- ABC
The Middle- ABC
Mysteries Of Laura- NBC
Bones- FOX
Backstrom- FOX
Elementary- CBS
Dr. Who- BBC
Cedar Cove- Hallmark
The Librarians- TNT
Downton Abbey- PBS
Sleepy Hollow- FOX
Major Crimes- TNT
Perception- TNT
Royal Pains- USA
Rizzoli & Isles- TNT
Haven- SyFy
Past ProgramsThe Mentalist- CBS
King & Maxwell- TNT
Franklin & Bash- TNT
White Collar- USA
Fairly Legal- USA
In Plain Sight- USA
Stargate- SyFy
Stargate Atlantis- SyFy
Warehouse 13- SyFy
As you can see out of the 35 TV programs, 17 of them are not available over-the-air. That's half of what we enjoy watching !

I also took into consideration from time to time we've watched the NatGeo and History channels when they ran series specials. Then there's the 'Comcast', 'ESPN', 'MLB' and NFL networks not available over-the-air either.

The biggest reason of all why I find it almost impossible to 'cut the cord':
It's Service Electric's exclusive programs. SECTV does almost the entire Musikfest. From time to time some of ArtsQuest Cafe concerts. All the 'Iron Pigs' home games. The 'Steelhawks' and 'The Phantoms'. The local parades and other local ball games. This in addition to carrying WTAP, WALN and WAEB in the morning. I even watch C-Span (1,2,3) and PCN from time to time.

For these reasons I'm having a tough time even thinking about 'cutting the cord'.

No I'm not trying to pitch Cable TV. Nor have a vested interest, but there are no other alternatives. Unless someone wants to spend a lot of money and time traveling I see no other way of accessing or witnessing these events. This doesn't mean I'm a TV hound, but it does allow me to expose myself to things otherwise not possible from time to time.



Does anyone have other thoughts on this?

Cable TV Next To Go Away?

Will cable TV be the next victim to the ever changing world on how we get our TV news and entertainment?

It appears so. HBO is offering to stream their telecasts via the internet for $14.99 a month. This follows on the heels of Amazon's Fire TV unit ($99) enabling users to stream the services of Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and HBO GO, plus games, music, and more. Netflix is offering their assortment of programs starting at $7.99 a month


These are not the only ways to view what once was only available on cable TV. The major networks and the programs on them are many times offer them for free as well via the internet.


Good Or Bad For Customers
I'm nearly certain as these services gain in popularity over traditional cable TV and it fades prices will go up for them. The free offerings no doubt will fade as well. Most likely because they will partner up with these newly emerging TV streaming services who are yet in their infancy.

Here's how I think it will turn out. The really smart cable companies will manage to do quite well by charging more for their internet services. Then start moving away from offering the traditional TV channels of today.

For years consumers have requested cable companies to offer à la carte TV. Unfortunately the entertainment industry has tied their hands by requiring them to take all of their offerings or none at all. So cable companies are not the bad guys in all of this. With this new way for entertainment giants to market their products they are able to circumvent cable companies nearly altogether. Will this be the demise of Cable TV companies? Not if they offer internet services which most of them do.

Instead of customers paying for singularly bundled services for everything we already see how cable companies are offering VOD and premium pricing tiers for more money. So yes customers will initially save money. However once people are roped in (cable TV no longer exist) there is nothing stopping these services from doing the very same thing. Viewers could one day see bills resembling those of a hospital bill with so many itemizations it would take a certified account to figure them all out. It's possible one day people will look back and yearn for the good old days when cable first started and everybody paid one price for them all.

Cable TV companies probably already figured out the advantages of not having the expenses of maintaining these 100's of channels and the franchise fees that go along with them. Instead choosing one day to provide only internet and telephone connections. Thusly well managed cable companies should do quite well by charging more for these internet services w/o all the expenses present day TV offerings incur to them.

The struggle for the future of TV has already begun. Hence why the ongoing arguments for and against 'net neutrailty' that's taking place in courts and in Washington D.C. and why it's so important. Anyone who is a student of history knows these big boys don't make these kind of sweeping changes w/o having future expectations of making even greater profits.

To the folks who say screw them I'll use an antenna. Good luck with that. Over 70% of today's TV offerings aren't available over-the-air. Even then only a handful of those signals are capable of viewing in any particular locality.

I envision a day when local TV stations aren't going to continue spending $100,000's for transmitters, trained engineers and the electric to run them. Not when they can simply stream them instead and get money from every single person who tunes in.

Plus individual local stations are limited to having only one to three over-the-air channels. There's no limits on the number they can stream instead.

How can I put this nicely.. hmm I can't.

Anyone wanting to enjoy videos and TV in the future.. they gotcha by the gonads.

Ya chust don't know it yet :-)

Who Should We Back In The Middle East?

Now ISIS incurs the wrath of Hamas: Islamic State ransacks Syria's Yarmouk refugee camp and massacres residents - prompting vow of revenge from Palestinian fighters

After Iraqi forces take Tikrit, a wave of looting and lynchings

A Saudi-led coalition targeting Shiite rebels in Yemen has asked Pakistan to contribute soldiers

Kenya launched airstrikes against Islamic militants in Somalia following an extremist attack on a Kenyan college that killed 148 people

Saudis welcome Iran deal as path toward freeing Middle East of WMD

Netanyahu blasts Obama's Iran nuclear deal

CBS reports, "BEIRUT -- Shelling and sporadic clashes struck a Palestinian refugee camp under attack by Islamic extremists in the Syrian capital Monday... Syrian government's air force has dropped several barrel bombs on the camp since Sunday."

Iranian soldiers fighting in Tikrit?


Holy Hell, It's A Free-For-All Over There !How about this, we stay out of it till the dust settles. It's impossible to tell the good guys from the bad. With all this Arab on Arab violence I find it impossible any of them to be able unite themselves long enough to become a serious threat to The United States.

Irregardless of the partisan voices in Washington only one thing has become clear. No one knows what the hell is going on. We arm the good guys one day. The next they aren't the good guys or they vamoose like a bunch of cowards leaving the weapons we supplied behind.

Partisan hacks want to lay this at the U. S. President's feet. Yeah sure like he's able somehow to resolve disputes between these crazy ass religious tribal wars that have been going on for centuries.

I'll repeat what I said before in the most simplistic way I know how. Political borders were carved out by Western European ideologies. This isn't the way things work over there. It doesn't matter where one lives in the Middle East. What entirely 100% matters is what religious tribe one belongs to. No one's going to change that no matter how hard anyone tries to make them into a united government similar to ours.

Which is why we need to keep religion as far a possible out own political system as far as we can so we don't become screwed up like them to avoid similar divisions within. I truly believe our founding fathers were well aware of this fact. As for many of our current crop of political leaders, I'm certain they are incapable of understanding such a precept as those who founded this nation. They understood the need for religion, but also understood the separation between it and what the consequences would be if it were not.

HUH?

What is it I'm not getting?

Every religion is against killing.

Yet everyone of them does it?

We Might Poison Ourselves One Way Or Another

California, farmers rely on oil wastewater to weather the drought
By Zoë Schlanger: Newsweek

"Once a year, the Cawelo Water District is required to send data about the salt and boron content to the Central Valley Water Board, according to Clay Rodgers, the board’s assistant executive officer. But the district isn’t obligated to test for other components, like heavy metals, arsenic, radioactive materials and chemicals that might be used in the drilling process."

My Comments About The Article AboveAs if genetically modified food weren't of concern enough now we have to worry about this. Be it far that I'm an expert but it seems to me this a very bad idea. Here we are talking about building oil & gas lines all over the country. Yet no one seems to even discuss the need to build water pipelines for a far more desperate reason.. WATER. Hell, even the Romans figured out they had a need to build aqueducts.

Have we become so greedy for oil and gas nothing else matters?

Have we become so intellectually challenged that we can't grasp the concept we need water a lot more then oil & gas to sustain ourselves?

I fear the answer may be yes to both !

Homeless People Read Mean Tweets

What the homeless want you to know


Both videos are part of the 'Raising The Roof' campaign in Canada. "Since 1997, Raising the Roof has allocated close to $4 million dollars to more than 145 partner agencies across Canada working to reduce homelessness at the community level." The campaign has posted dozens of more videos in which homeless people are given a voice and a chance to answer the accusations made against them

'GoldCinemaAlbania' posted the following video. They gave a NYC homeless man pizza to see what he would do.



Here in The United States 'Volunteers Of America' works directly with the homeless. So too does 'Habitat For Humanity' and 'The U.S. Dept. of Veteran Affairs'. These are just three organizations among dozens of others providing means for people to help the homeless if inclined to do so.

Speaking Of Mean Tweets..
Although this post was about homelessness it follows my thoughts regarding bullying in social media on the internet as a whole. When people leave mean stuff directed at others I wish for them to give pause and ask themselves... What kind of person treats others the way themselves would not want to be treated and if so what kind of person does that make them?

They need to understand the day will come they too, having their own foibles, can be exploited and have those used against them?

If anyone still lacks empathy or understanding of my words, there's very little I could say to convince someone otherwise.


Anyone Can End Up Homeless!

"There but for the grace of God, go I"