George Aar

Nah, never happen. Those guys actually have some talent. Loads of it. BTW, BB just celebrated his EIGHTIETH birthday! Happy birthday to him!

"Serious bidders only!" Yeah, like there'd be any other kind, dude? Farf$%^&ingout!

I think your friend's statement is more telling than they even imagined. They're "afraid" of running into somebody who doesn't share their delusions anymore. Gee, why would that be? Tired of making excuses for believing such nonsense? Embarrassed that they still hang out with such a bunch of loons? Ashamed of belonging to a goofy group that NOBODY takes seriously anymore (if they ever did)? Maybe they're just tired of defending the indefensible... Personally, I NEVER feel awkward in situations like that anymore. After all, they're the ones with their head up their %^&, not me.

Cagney and Lacy, that's it! Yeah, the "Lacy" part of the equation is one I never got either. I think about as much of her as I do of Neil Young. That is, not much. There was a little homage to NY on PBS yesterday. Here he was trotting out his best stuff, and gawd, it just didn't measure up, sorry. Of course then, I never thought much of Frank Sinatra or Judy Garland either, so maybe he's in good company...

Rick, No clue on the first one. The second one sounds familiar, but I can't quite place it (Simon and Simon, Rhoda, some other fluffy, pointless sitcom?) And naturally The Monkees, and then "Suite:Judy Blue Eyes" by C,S,&Nash (before they were joined by that marginal (and incredibly overrated) "talent" N. Young.

Just dropping in to note: Jimi Hendrix died 35 years ago today! Gawd, does that make me feel like an old man 'er what? Where in the hell did 35 years go? I remember singing along with his "Band of Gypsies" album (on my eight-track) while tooling around town in my red '53 GMC panel truck. Damn, I miss that truck. Whatta ride. If it hadn't been for the drug-induced insanity, Jimi would have probably become one of the all-time great jazz guitarists. Instead, he's fading into obscurity (despite the building in town which he inspired, the ugliest building in the world, near as I can tell. Gawd, from the air it looks like a crushed beer can). He was just one of many victims of the "live for today" mindset that, maybe too many of us took to some real bizarre extremes. What a shame...

Yeah, I took it. Lots of shameless self-promotion and even more dubious "insider" info. about the evil goings-on in the inner circle of Washington D.C. He seemed like a nice guy, all the same. I think maybe he's grown out of that nonsense by now...

Well after just 3 days since buying my shirts, I've become the life of party, am getting better gas mileage, and my hair has grown in thicker and fuller without any trace of gray. Thank you hurricane shirts!

Sudo, The ridiculous nature of the show notwithstanding, I never paid any attention to what a great piece of work the theme was for the Bugler (Trumperteer?). Reminds me of "The Canadian Brass". Do you know who did it?

And even as crude as the animation was in Rocky and Bullwinkle, is was lightyears ahead of what Ward and Co. had been doing previously in "Cursader Rabbit". As I remember, they were like paper cutouts that were moved around a little for the "animation" part. I don't remember exactly, but it was really crude, that I know...

Oh, wait a minute, I've been to Quebec too. Two words Bo Ring.

Only two on your list I've been to Tokyo Beijing Tokyo is just a huge modern city. Ueno park is O.K. for awhile (in the spring there is a group of tents set up near the pond where they sell Japanese Antiques and the like). "Akihibara" (Electric City) is kind of fun if you want to shop for the latest in electronic gadgetry. Some great restaurants, but you'll do best if you like Japanese cuisine. They try to cook other ethnicities, but trust me, you'll do better with simply Japanese food. To get a real taste of Japan, though, get on the Shinkansen at Tokyo Station and head north to Nikko. You'll have to take a local train also, but it's more than worth the trip. Fabulous temples and scenery, Ieyasu Tokugawa's tomb (he was the first Shogun of a united Japan) and great little Minshukus (Japanese B&Bs). Beijing was more fun than I could imagine. More activity and construction and things happening all over town. It's currently in the center of one of the biggest economic booms in history. The Great Wall is nearby, as are the Ming Tombs. Lots of great shops, Peking Duck (YES, you have to), and just lots of neat quirky things that WILL happen. A GREAT time. The air pollution is absolutely horrific though. Don't spend more than 4 or 5 days in town or you'll develop the infamous "hack".

Uh, lessee, 1. San Francisco, a pretty town, the Golden Gate Bridge, a couple of nice museums, Chinatown, lots of great restaurants, - worth a day or two. 2. San Diego, great weather, always sunny and moderate, not much to see and do other than lay on the beach, or maybe go to Tijuana (a rather acquired taste). 3.Boston, just another megalopolis. I couldn't find anything noteworthy there except having lunch at "Cheers" (big whoop) 4.San Antonio, well there's the Alamo, and, ummm, uhhh, 5.Las Vegas, I think I'll wait till after I'm dead for a return visit. (Though "The Amazing Meeting III happens there in a couple of months, that might be worth it). 6.Little Big Horn, kinda interesting, but really not much to see, I'd give it an hour or two. 7.Gettysburg, for a Civil War buff it's a must see, but, again, it won't take long to take it all in. It's just pastures and fencerows and a few old canons now. 8.Hawaii, never been, seems too hot to me. I was never one for lying on the beach and sweating. I do enough of that at work. 9.Deer Isle MA, ? 10.Fredericksburg, see #7. I'd give the Big Easy a few months and then head on down. The Quarter didn't get hurt anyway, and they'll be back to eatin' good and drinking more than they should in no time...

Looky what I found: http://cgi.ebay.com/Fractured-Flickers-The...1QQcmdZViewItem Twenty-eight bucks for the complete set? Cheap!

Oh, and another BTW, My favorite episode of "Fractured Flickers" was where they trashed the silent version of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" with Lon Chaney. He was converted to a football cheerleader named "Dinky Dalton" IIRC. A real hoot...

I heard June Foray on the radio a few years back pitching the release of "Rocky and Bullwinkle" episodes on VHS. She was the one who always did the voice of the "princess" in the fairy tale and I think she did "Rocky" as well. Anyway, she said when they got ready to record, that Jay Ward would hand out the scripts and then say, "Well there's a woodsman in here, uh, you take that part Paul, and June, you be the princess, Hans, you'll be the villain, and I'll play so-and-so." Then, no rehearsal, no "first takes" or anything else. They turned on the recorder and did it. Amazing if that's really how it went. Some of the funniest stuff ever on T.V. BTW, anyone remember Hans Conried's spinoff of the series called "Fractured Flickers"? THAT was some outrageously funny stuff. I guess he got in a lot of trouble with studios and actors and relatives of same for "desecrating" the classics. Personally, I loved every minute of it.

Or, rather than pay any payments, just pay off your balance whenever the statement shows up. Of course, the credit card companies HATE that. In the industry, those that do that are referred to as "deadbeats".(!) I LOVE my credit card for traveling. I don't know how to get along without it on the road...

But still nutritious...

Sign me up for three. I hear chicks really dig guys who wear hurricane shirts, no?

But Dave, If it hasn't been tested it IS just a quack remedy. Yes, "Old Wives Tales" and "folk medicine gave us a vaccine for smallpox and aspirin and probably a few other useful treatments. It also gave us bloodletting, induced vomitting, "hair of the dog", copper bracelets, homeopathic "drugs", and countless other crap. What do you want to bet your life on? Without the scientific method, you simply just don't know. Is that good enough?

Tale of Two Cities? (I recognize Kathy's quote, but not the clip)...

The thing about "alternative" medicine and the like, though, is that if an "alternative" therapy shows some promise and then passes the accepted regimen of testing and peer review, well, it's no longer "alternative" and becomes an accepted therapy. Problem is, a staggering percentage of the "alternative" therapies never go through the testing process. They're simply touted to the hills for their beneficial properties and marketed like a sumbitch. Or they garner a following due to someone's supposed "positive" experience with it and all sorts of "experts" start into touting it's benefits and selling books* about it. Laetrile anyone? Yeah, real science can be a drawn-out process and is fraught with all sorts of the same problems any human endeavor is, I.E. - people are the ones participating in it. But the "alternative" is simply guesswork and superstition - or outright fraud. *Here's a current classic of the genre: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=glance&s=books

Sudo, Is that from "Lost Horizon"? Or maybe "Prisoner of Zenda"? Sorry those are the only two Ronald Colman pics I can think of off the top of my head...

A la, Yes, I have the Manhattan Transfer version as well (Well I did before wifey took off with all the CDs). In fact, I think I had every album MT ever did. A GREAT group. I've seen them live several times as well.

Absolutely, but let's not put any faith in it either. I have no problem with any treatment that has a good track record of double-blind testing and publishing in peer-reveiwed journals, but anecdotal "I took it and now I feels great!" sort of testimonials are meaningless...