May 25, 2014

Happy Towel Day!

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[font color=green]Obligatory kitteh photo--with towel![/font]

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[font color=green]Don't forget to bring a towel![/font]

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[font color=green]It's a long ways away.[/font]


On Sunday May 25 fans worldwide of writer Douglas Adams will be observing the thirteeth annual Towel Day. First celebrated in 2001, two weeks after Adams’ death on May 11 at age 49, Towel Day is marked by carrying a towel all day, (re)experiencing The Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy and Adams’ other works, and the occasional Vogon poetry recital. Often a collection of towels is arranged for local animal shelters.

In Chapter 3 of the Hitchhiker’s Guide the iconic guidebook outlines how essential it is for the galactic traveller to always carry a towel:

“A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have “lost.” What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

Hence a phrase that has passed into hitchhiking slang, as in “Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There’s a frood who really knows where his towel is.”

(Sass: know, be aware of, meet, have sex with; hoopy: really together guy; frood: really amazingly together guy.)”

—Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

May 25, 2014

Something to keep in mind after all of the mess this past day

First of all, I don't consider any of you to be idiots, but...

...the disagreements, the jury duty summons and the hidden posts are making this place suck. We don't need to give the Freepers or other groups any ammunition.

Thank you,

TxT
9,000+ posts and with no posts hidden.

May 25, 2014

Anyone Can Claim To Be A Democrat, But Not Every Democrat Embraces The Party's Core Values

Growing up in Brooklyn in the '60s, I wasn't always a big fan of the Democratic Party. In Brooklyn that's where corruption lived. And in terms of the issues that mattered most to me-- equality and peace-- some Democrats were on the same page as I was but many-- particularly powerful committee chairmen (and not only from The South-- were as far from my beliefs as the Republicans. Things have gotten better since the worst racists in the party migrated en masse to the GOP after Lyndon Johnson started signing legislation that integrated the country for real. The Solid South was still solid-- but now for the Republicans. Good riddance! But they left some behind.

People tend to think gay legislators are all progressive because they're gay. That's absurd on face value. Sure, they're usually very progressive on LGBT issues but sometimes it stops right there. Ironically, the congressman with the single most progressive voting record in Congress, Madison's Mark Pocan, is gay. His ProgressivePunch Lifetime curial vote score is 98.74. But the single worst Democrat in the House claims to be a lesbian or bisexual, Arizona Blue Dog Kyrsten Sinema. Her wretched score is 31.79. And the third worst Democrat in Congress is Sean Patrick Maloney (New Dem-NY) with a score of 32.70. This year two Republicans, Walter Jones (NC) and Chris Gibson (NY) have more progressive scores than either Maloney or Sinema.

As you know, Blue America doesn't back run of the mill, garden variety Democrats, not to mention the really awful ones like Sinema and Maloney. We back values-steeped progressives, regardless of sexual orientation. In the open Oklahoma City congressional seat, we've endorsed Tom Guild, a stalwart progressive who is being challenged by a conservative gay Democratic state legislator, Al McAffrey. (You can contribute to Tom's campaign here.)

Thursday, McAffrey voted for House Bill 2562 in the Oklahoma State Senate. It sets tax on oil and gas production at 2% for the first 36 months of production and 7% thereafter. The progressive view in Oklahoma-- and even among some wealthy Republican oilies in the state-- was 7% from day one. The “compromise” that McAffrey voted for was 2% for the first 36 months instead of the first 48 months. He is one of just two Democrats in the state senate who voted with the Republicans on the bill. It's a massive giveaway to the oil and gas barons and it takes untold millions of dollars out of the state budget for funding education, mental health, highways, and other desperately needed programs.

- See more at: http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2014/05/anyone-can-claim-to-be-democrat-but-not.html#sthash.RbTHBjBw.NLysmZzQ.dpuf

May 25, 2014

Lubbock man faces 5 counts of aggravated assault in hit-and-run incident at Wal-Mart, incl. 6 yr old

A 33-year-old Lubbock man was in jail facing multiple felony charges after injuring five people — including four children — when he rammed his heavy-duty pickup truck late Thursday into three vehicles at a Wal-Mart parking lot in Southwest Lubbock.

Nicholas Zane Melton was being held at the Lubbock County Detention Center on five first-degree felony counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a state felony count of criminal mischief and a misdemeanor count of issuance of a bad check, according to jail records.

His bond was set at $50,000 for one count of aggravated assault, $25,000 for the remaining four counts of aggravated assault, $10,000 for criminal mischief and $1,000 for the bad check.

Four victims were taken by ambulance to University Medical Center, including a 6-year-old who suffered life-threatening injuries and remained in critical condition Friday, according to a Lubbock Police Department news release.

More at http://lubbockonline.com/crime-and-courts/crime/2014-05-23/lubbock-man-faces-five-counts-aggravated-assault-hit-and-run#comment-334435 .

May 24, 2014

Arian Foster (RB - Houston Texans) is dead to me now--trolls cat lovers on Twitter

Houston Texans star running back Arian Foster decided to have some fun with cat owners Thursday night on Twitter, telling them their favorite felines don’t really love them.

Hilarity – and a bazillion awkward photos of cats with their owners – ensued.

Arian Foster
@ArianFoster
Cat owners are intriguing to me, cuz the cat really doesn't like you. He's just appreciative of the food. In my observation anyway.
May 22, 2014

Arian Foster
@ArianFoster
Your cat doesn't love you. Sorry.
May 22, 2014

Read more at http://blog.chron.com/techblog/2014/05/arian-foster-trolls-cat-lovers-on-twitter/ .

[font color=green]I hope Foster gets tackled behind the line of scrimmage each time he touches the ball this season!

BTW, this photo has a cat that looks like my calico, AC and her mother, Crystal.[/font]


@ArianFoster got a light? pic.twitter.com/v3ITrm7oAe

May 24, 2014

90% Of People Can't Pronounce This Whole Poem. You Have To Try It.

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Use Ctrl and the "+" to zoom to a larger size or go to http://m.tickld.com/x/90-of-people-cant-pronounce-this-whole-poem

May 24, 2014

Much to his dismay, I have the exclusive pictures of mbperrin

Hang on buddy, it will be over soon...

May 24, 2014

8 Beers That You Should Stop Drinking Immediately

Here are the 8 beers that are commonly found in bars in United States that you should stop drinking immediately.

Many of us choose what we eat very carefully, or at least dedicate our minimum attention to it. But when it comes to drinks, especially alcoholic beverages, we do little to make the best decisions for our health. Which is a HUGE mistake. All the work for your body can be ruined in a weekend out. While foods and non alcoholic beverages are required to list their ingredients and are monitored by the FDA, beer does not belong in either. Alcohol industry had lobbied for years to avoid labeling its ingredients. Some to protect its recipes, but most – to hide harmful ingredients.

Here’s some harmful ingredients that are commonly found in beer:

GMO Corn Syrup
GMO Corn
High Fructose Corn Syrup
Fish Bladder
Propylene Glycol
Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
Natural Flavors
GMO Sugars
Caramel Coloring
Insect-Based Dyes
Carrageenan
BPA
& lots more!

To read the reasons why and for alternative suggestions: http://themindunleashed.org/2014/05/8-beers-stop-drinking-immediately.html

1. Newcastle Brown Ale
2. Budweiser
3. Corona Extra
4. Miller Lite
5. Michelob Extra
6. Guinness
7. Coors Light
8. Pabst Blue Ribbon

May 24, 2014

Obituary: Mildred Stegall, 105, was LBJ’s closest aide

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Mildred Stegall, President Lyndon B. Johnson’s closest aide and the woman entrusted with his secretly recorded telephone conversations, has died. She was 105.

Stegall died May 16 in Fort Worth. Her funeral was Friday at Pioneer Cemetery in nearby Graham, where she was buried next to her husband, Glynn Stegall, who died in 1963.

More at http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/local-obituaries/mildred-stegall-105-was-lbjs-closest-aide/nf6fx/ (subscription required).

-----



Mildred Forbes Stegall, 105, passed away Friday, May 16, 2014 in Fort Worth. Graveside services will be held Friday, May 23, 2014 at 11:00 a.m. at the Gazebo in Pioneer Cemetery under the direction of Morrison Funeral Home.

Mildred was born June 11, 1908 in Stranger, Falls County, Texas. After graduating from Baylor, she taught school including Eliasville and Archer City. She was married to Glynn Stegall in 1933, and they worked for Congressman W.D. McFarlane in Washington, D.C. Her next employment was with Stewart Symington with the Reconstruction Finace Corporation.

Mildred's husband, Glynn, worked for Senator Lyndon Johnson and when LBJ became Senate majority leader in 1956, Johnson hired Mildred to be his secretary. She continued to work for Johnson as a secretary when he was Vice President and President. Glynn preceded Mildred in death in 1963. In 1964 Mildred was promoted to assistant to the President and handled matters involving the FBI. Mildred returned to Austin January 20, 1969 on Air Force One, and worked for the LBJ Library and Museum until Johnson's death in 1973. She handled Lady Bird Johnson's accounts for 16 years after that.

-snip-

She was preceded in death by husband, Glynn Stegall, parents, Robert and Jessie (Snead) Forbes, and sisters, Frances and Roberta Forbes.

Memorials may be made Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, 4801 La Crosse Avenue, Austin, TX 78739.

http://www.morrisonfuneralhome.com/services.asp?locid=1&page=odetail&id=3410#.U4C6YijySsQ

May 24, 2014

The most boring cities in Texas named

Everything's bigger in Texas, but for these 10 cities, that means the yawns and the amount of time spent twidling thumbs.

Real estate website Movoto has named the 10 most boring cities in Texas and 3 of the winners--err, losers--are in the Houston area. Houston, we have a problem.

While Pearland, La Porte and Rosenberg ended up on the list based on nightlife, live music venues, dining, and recreational options per capita, we think there's still some way to have fun in these seemingly lackluster towns.

-snip-

The other dull towns across the Lone Star State are Grand Prairie, Lancaster, Cleburne, Duncanville, Mesquite, Schertz, and the king of all the dullards: Rowlett, Texas.

More at http://www.chron.com/homes/article/The-most-boring-cities-in-Texas-named-5501524.php#photo-6347369 .

[font color=green]Ha, ha! One of my friends who is a teacher lives in Rowlett![/font]