Off Topic Bullsh*t Thread Volume XXIII

[exentix]

sounds like fun krandall 

got to try water skiing for the first time this weekend, it was a freakin blast 

[Peelz]

happy monday. had an OK weekend.... had my family reunion, my dad's side. Weird without Dad being there.

but a couple things.... My uncle...in a scooter, barely breathing, barely talking, diagnosed with lung cancer, refusing treatment....was there....chain smoking. How disrespectful can you be! It is really hard to feel sorry for him. But I am trying.   
smoking is bad and makes you die a messy death.

And on the way there. Outside a gas station, I saw the classiest thing ever. Older man gets out of his truck, leaving his son or grandson in the truck. I hear a beep...then see the son, in the passenger seat... blowing into the intoxilock for the old man, as the old man, apparently semi-drunk comes out of the gas station carrying a 30 pack of the beast! And proceeds to drive away.

Now that is sheer Iowa class folks.

[Magz]

happy monday. had an OK weekend.... had my family reunion, my dad's side. Weird without Dad being there.

but a couple things.... My uncle...in a scooter, barely breathing, barely talking, diagnosed with lung cancer, refusing treatment....was there....chain smoking. How disrespectful can you be! It is really hard to feel sorry for him. But I am trying.   
smoking is bad and makes you die a messy death.

And on the way there. Outside a gas station, I saw the classiest thing ever. Older man gets out of his truck, leaving his son or grandson in the truck. I hear a beep...then see the son, in the passenger seat... blowing into the intoxilock for the old man, as the old man, apparently semi-drunk comes out of the gas station carrying a 30 pack of the beast! And proceeds to drive away.

Now that is sheer Iowa class folks.

I almost can not bealive the stupidness of your "old man" story.....................WOW!

[disco]

but a couple things.... My uncle...in a scooter, barely breathing, barely talking, diagnosed with lung cancer, refusing treatment....was there....chain smoking. How disrespectful can you be! It is really hard to feel sorry for him. But I am trying.   
smoking is bad and makes you die a messy death.

I can, in a way, understand refusing the treatment.  My parents lost a very close friend recently to cancer.  She never smoked or anything.  Did chemo and it did a real number on her.  My mother said she was shocked at how the lady looked, she'd never seen anybody lose so much weight so fast and said it was hard just going into the room with her, seeing this shell that used to be her friend.  After the lady died my parents both decided that should either one get cancer, they will not undergo chemo.  I don't know what other options are available (radiation I guess?) but should they come down with cancer everybody better get their goodbye's in while they have a chance.

Maybe your uncle gave up a long time ago, threw in the towel and is just marking time, I don't know.

[Peelz]

yeah disco. Nothing good about it, period. My problem isn't refusing the treatment. It was smoking right ion front of me right after I watched my own dad die not long ago.   

Horrible deal all around.

yeah he really has no shot, already missing part of a lung. Not much you can do.

[Krandall]

Bummer peelz.

Always hard to lose someone. Maybe he's at the point where.. like disco said. He knows he's going to go. and he may as well make the best of it and enjoy what he's doing.

[Peelz]

Bummer peelz.

Always hard to lose someone. Maybe he's at the point where.. like disco said. He knows he's going to go. and he may as well make the best of it and enjoy what he's doing.

yeah, exactly , just bugged me that he was smoking right in front of me.

[Krandall]

Today's Highlights in History

On July 19, 1941, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill launched his "V for Victory" campaign in Europe. (Go to article.)

On July 19, 1834, Edgar Degas, the French Impressionist painter and sculptor, was born. Following his death on September 27, 1917, his obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obit. | Other Birthdays)
Editorial Cartoon of the Day
   
On July 19,   1884, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the presidential election of 1884.


On this date in:

1553    Fifteen-year-old Lady Jane Grey was deposed as queen of England after claiming the crown for nine days. Mary, the daughter of King Henry VIII, was proclaimed queen.

1848    A pioneer women's rights convention convened in Seneca Falls, N.Y.

1943    Allied air forces raided Rome during World War II.

1969    Apollo 11 and its astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins, went into orbit around the moon.

1979    The Nicaraguan capital of Managua fell to Sandinista guerrillas.

1980    The Moscow Summer Olympics began; dozens of nations boycotted the games because of Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan.

1984    Congresswoman Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York won the Democratic nomination for vice president at the party's convention in San Francisco.

1986    Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President John F. Kennedy, married Edwin A. Schlossberg.

1989    A United Air Lines DC-10 crashed while making an emergency landing at Sioux City, Iowa, killing 112 people; 184 survived.

1990    Baseball's all-time hits leader Pete Rose was sentenced in Cincinnati to five months in prison for tax evasion.

1993    President Bill Clinton announced the "don't ask, don't tell" policy which allows homosexuals to serve in the military, but not openly.

2005    President George W. Bush announced his choice of federal appeals court judge John Roberts to replace Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

2009    Author Frank McCourt, who'd won the Pulitzer Prize for his memoir "Angela's Ashes," died at 78.

[Krandall]

Today's Highlights in History

On July 20, 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. (Go to article.)

On July 20, 1920, Elliot Richardson, the American public official best known for his refusal to obey President Richard M. Nixon's order to fire a special prosecutor, was born. Following his death on December 31, 1999, his obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obit. | Other Birthdays)
Editorial Cartoon of the Day
   
On July 20,   1907, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about British appreciation for Mark Twain's social commentary.




On this date in:

1810    Colombia declared independence from Spain.

1861    The Congress of the Confederate States began holding sessions in Richmond, Va.

1871    British Columbia joined the confederation as a Canadian province.

1881    Sioux Indian leader Sitting Bull surrendered to federal troops.

1917    The World War I draft lottery began.

1944    Adolf Hitler was only slightly wounded when a bomb planted by would-be assassins exploded at the German leader's Rastenburg headquarters.

1944    President Franklin D. Roosevelt was nominated for an unprecedented fourth term at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

1976    America's Viking 1 robot spacecraft landed on Mars.

1977    A flash flood hit Johnstown, Pa., killing 80 people and causing $350 million in damage.

1990    A federal appeals court set aside Oliver North's Iran-Contra convictions.

1993    White House deputy counsel Vince Foster was found shot to death in a park near Washington, D.C., in an apparent suicide.

1999    After 38 years at the bottom of the Atlantic, astronaut Gus Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 Mercury capsule was recovered.

2007    President George W. Bush signed an executive order prohibiting cruel and inhuman treatment, including humiliation or denigration of religious beliefs, in the detention and interrogation of terrorism suspects.

[Krandall]

Today's Highlights in History
On July 20, 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. (Go to article.)

On July 20, 1920, Elliot Richardson, the American public official best known for his refusal to obey President Richard M. Nixon's order to fire a special prosecutor, was born. Following his death on December 31, 1999, his obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obit. | Other Birthdays)
Editorial Cartoon of the Day
   
On July 20,   1907, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about British appreciation for Mark Twain's social commentary.



On this date in:

1810    Colombia declared independence from Spain.

1861    The Congress of the Confederate States began holding sessions in Richmond, Va.

1871    British Columbia joined the confederation as a Canadian province.

1881    Sioux Indian leader Sitting Bull surrendered to federal troops.

1917    The World War I draft lottery began.

1944    Adolf Hitler was only slightly wounded when a bomb planted by would-be assassins exploded at the German leader's Rastenburg headquarters.

1944    President Franklin D. Roosevelt was nominated for an unprecedented fourth term at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

1976    America's Viking 1 robot spacecraft landed on Mars.

1977    A flash flood hit Johnstown, Pa., killing 80 people and causing $350 million in damage.

1990    A federal appeals court set aside Oliver North's Iran-Contra convictions.

1993    White House deputy counsel Vince Foster was found shot to death in a park near Washington, D.C., in an apparent suicide.

1999    After 38 years at the bottom of the Atlantic, astronaut Gus Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 Mercury capsule was recovered.

2007    President George W. Bush signed an executive order prohibiting cruel and inhuman treatment, including humiliation or denigration of religious beliefs, in the detention and interrogation of terrorism suspects.

[Krandall]

Today's Highlights in History
On July 22, 1934, a man identified as bank robber John Dillinger was shot to death by federal agents in Chicago. (Go to article.)

On July 22, 1849, Emma Lazarus, the American poet best known for her words inscribed at the Statue of Liberty, was born. Following her death on November 19, 1887, her obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obit. | Other Birthdays)
Editorial Cartoon of the Day
   
On July 22,   1905, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the problem of yellow fever during construction of the Panama Canal.



On this date in:

1587    A second English colony, also fated to vanish under mysterious circumstances, was established on Roanoke Island off North Carolina.

1796    The city of Cleveland was founded by Gen. Moses Cleaveland.

1933    American aviator Wiley Post completed the first solo flight around the world in seven days, 18 1/2 hours.

1937    The Senate rejected President Franklin D. Roosevelt's proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court.

1943    American forces led by Gen. George S. Patton captured Palermo, Sicily.

1946    Jewish extremists blew up a wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing about 100 people.

1981    Turkish extremist Mehmet Ali Agca was sentenced in Rome to life in prison for shooting Pope John Paul II. (He served 19 years.)

1991    Police in Milwaukee arrested serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

1992    Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar escaped from his luxury prison near Medellin.

1994    O.J. Simpson pleaded innocent to the slaying of his ex-wife, Nicole, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.

1995    Susan Smith was convicted by a jury in Union, S.C., of first-degree murder for drowning her two sons. (She is now serving life in prison.)

1998    Iran tested a medium-range missile capable of reaching Israel or Saudi Arabia.

2003    Saddam Hussein's sons Odai and Qusai were killed when U.S. forces stormed a villa in Mosul, Iraq.

2003    Months after her prisoner-of-war ordeal, Pvt. 1st Class Jessica Lynch returned home to a hero's welcome in Elizabeth, W.Va.

2004    The Sept. 11 commission issued a report saying America's leaders failed to grasp the gravity of terrorist threats before the 9/11 attacks.

2006    Israeli tanks, bulldozers and armored personnel carriers knocked down a fence and barreled over the Lebanese border as forces seized the village of Maroun al-Ras from Hezbollah.

2009    President Barack Obama told a prime-time press conference that Cambridge, Mass., police had acted "stupidly" in the arrest of prominent black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.

[Spartan]

So what's up today peeps?

And Randy....maybe that stuff should go in Fact of the Day

[Krandall]

Today's Highlights in History

On July 23, 1914, Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia following the killing of Archduke Francis Ferdinand by a Serb assassin; the dispute led to World War I. (Go to article.)

On July 23, 1892, Haile Selassie I, the emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974, was born. Following his death on August 26, 1975, his obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obit. | Other Birthdays)
Editorial Cartoon of the Day
   
On July 23,   1881, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the assassination of President James Garfield.


On this date in:

1829    William Austin Burt of Mount Vernon, Mich., received a patent for his typographer, a forerunner of the typewriter.

1885    Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president of the United States, died in Mount McGregor, N.Y., at age 63.

1904    By some accounts, the ice cream cone was invented by Charles E. Menches during the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.

1945    French Marshal Henri Petain, who had headed the Vichy government during World War II, went on trial, charged with treason.

1952    Egyptian military officers led by Gamal Abdel Nasser overthrew King Farouk I.

1967    Rioting that claimed some 43 lives erupted in Detroit.

1984    Vanessa Williams became the first Miss America to resign her title, because of nude photographs published in Penthouse magazine.

1986    Britain's Prince Andrew married Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey in London. (The couple divorced in 1996.)

1997    Police found the body of Andrew Cunanan, the suspected killer of designer Gianni Versace and others, on a houseboat in Miami Beach, Fla., an apparent suicide.

2000    Tiger Woods became the youngest golfer to complete a career Grand Slam when he won the British Open at age 24.

2003    Massachusetts' attorney general issued a report saying clergy members and others in the Boston Archdiocese probably sexually abused more than 1,000 people over six decades.

2009    Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox pitched the 18th perfect game in major league history, a 5-0 win over Tampa Bay.

[Krandall]

Today's Highlights in History
On July 26, 1947, President Truman signed the National Security Act, creating the Department of Defense, the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (Go to article.)

On July 26, 1875, Carl (Gustav) Jung , one of the founders of analytic psychology, was born. Following his death on June 6, 1961, his obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obit. | Other Birthdays)
Editorial Cartoon of the Day
   
On July 26,   1884, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about the presidential election of 1884.


On this date in:

1788    New York became the 11th state to ratify the Constitution.

1856    Playwright George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin, Ireland.

1945    Winston Churchill resigned as Britain's prime minister after his Conservatives were soundly defeated by the Labor Party.He was succeeded by Clement Attlee.

1948    President Harry S. Truman signed executive orders prohibiting discrimination in the U.S. armed forces and federal employment.

1952    Adlai E. Stevenson was nominated for president by the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

1953    Fidel Castro began a revolt against Fulgencio Batista with an unsuccessful attack on an army barracks in eastern Cuba.

1956    Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal.

1964    Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa and six others were convicted of fraud and conspiracy in the handling of a union pension fund.

1971    Apollo 15 was launched on a manned mission to the moon.

1990    The House of Representatives reprimanded Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., for ethics violations.

1990    President George H.W. Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act.

1990    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that a young woman â€" later identified as Kimberly Bergalis â€" had been infected with the AIDS virus, apparently by her dentist.

2000    A federal judge approved a $1.25 billion settlement between Swiss banks and more than a half million plaintiffs who alleged the banks had hoarded money deposited by Holocaust victims.

2006    A jury in Houston found Andrea Yates not guilty by reason of insanity in the drowning of her children in a bathtub in the second trial she faced on the charges; she was committed to a state mental hospital.


Mick Jagger turns 67 years old today.

92    Marjorie Lord
Actress ("Make Room for Daddy")

88    Blake Edwards
Director, producer

71    Bob Lilly
Football Hall of Famer

69    Darlene Love
R&B singer, actress

67    Mike McConnell
Former director of national intelligence

65    Helen Mirren
Actress

61    Roger Taylor
Rock musician (Queen)

60    Susan George
Actress

54    Dorothy Hamill
Figure skater

51    Kevin Spacey
Actor

46    Sandra Bullock
Actress

45    Jeremy Piven
Actor ("Entourage")

39    Chris Harrison
TV host ("The Bachelor")

37    Kate Beckinsale
Actress

[Krandall]

Today's Highlights in History
On July 27, 1953, the Korean War armistice was signed at Panmunjom, ending three years of fighting. (Go to article.)

On July 27, 1905, Leo Durocher, the American baseball player and manager, was born. Following his death on October 7, 1991, his obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obit. | Other Birthdays)
Editorial Cartoon of the Day
   
On July 27,   1878, Harper's Weekly featured a cartoon about an international rowing competition.




On this date in:

1694    The Bank of England received a royal charter as a commercial institution.

1789    Congress established the Department of Foreign Affairs, the forerunner of the State Department.

1794    French revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre was overthrown and placed under arrest; he was executed the following day.

1861    Union Gen. George B. McClellan was put in command of the Army of the Potomac.

1866    After two failures, Cyrus W. Field succeeded in laying the first underwater telegraph cable between North America and Europe.

1940    Bugs Bunny made his debut in the Warner Bros. animated cartoon "A Wild Hare."

1960    Vice President Richard M. Nixon was nominated for president at the Republican National Convention in Chicago.

1967    In the wake of urban rioting, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed the Kerner Commission to assess the causes of the violence.

1974    The House Judiciary Committee voted 27-11 to recommend President Richard M. Nixon's impeachment on a charge that he had personally engaged in a "course of conduct" designed to obstruct justice in the Watergate case.

1980    The deposed Shah of Iran died in Egypt at age 60.

1995    The Korean War Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C.

1996    A pipe bomb exploded at a public park during the Olympic games in Atlanta, killing one person and injuring more than 100.

2003    Comedian Bob Hope died at age 100.

2003    Lance Armstrong won a record-tying fifth straight Tour de France title.

2005    Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian who'd plotted to bomb the Los Angeles airport on the eve of the millennium, was sentenced to 22 years in prison.


Current Birthdays

Alex Rodriguez turns 35 years old today.

88    Norman Lear
TV producer

79    Jerry Van Dyke
Actor

66    Bobbie Gentry
Country singer

62    Peggy Fleming
Figure skater

61    Maury Chaykin
Actor

61    Maureen McGovern
Singer

54    Carol Leifer
Comedian

53    Bill Engvall
Comedian ("Blue Collar TV")

43    Stacy Dean Campbell
Country singer

43    Juliana Hatfield
Rock singer

42    Julian McMahon
Actor ("Nip/Tuck")

38    Maya Rudolph
Actress, comedian ("Saturday Night Live")

33    Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Actor ("The Tudors")

20    Cheyenne Kimball
Country singer

Historic Birthdays

Leo Durocher

7/27/1905 - 10/7/1991
American baseball manager
(Go to obit.)

24    Charlotte Corday
7/27/1768 - 7/17/1793
French revolutionary assassin of Jean-Paul Marat

82    Hilaire Belloc
7/27/1870 - 7/16/1953
French-born English historian, biographer, poet and novelist

82    Geoffrey De Havilland
7/27/1882 - 5/21/1965
English manufacturer and aircraft designer

58    Charles Vidor
7/27/1900 - 6/4/1959
Hungarian-born motion-picture director