I'll Leap into My Petticoat and Propose

Tonight's my big chance. Folk legend has it that women can propose marriage only on leap years.

wikipedia:

Supposedly, a 1288 law by Queen Margaret of Scotland (then age five and living in Norway), required that fines be levied if a marriage proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to £1 to a silk gown, in order to soften the blow.[8] Because men felt that put them at too great a risk, the tradition was in some places tightened to restricting female proposals to the modern leap day, 29 February, or to the medieval leap day, 24 February.

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Women looking to take advantage of their opportunity to pitch woo were expected to wear a scarlet petticoat -- fair warning, if you will."[9]
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In Denmark, the tradition is that women may propose on leap day 24 February and that refusal must be compensated with 12 pairs of gloves.

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Unfortunately, I don't have a Scarlet Petticoat, though I admit it sounds quite sexy. And I can't even go out tonight because of the snow. (Had to leave the car down the hill and walk up the real Goosepath back home.)I suppose with this cold weather and snow, I'd settle for the 12 pairs of gloves.

Richard Gere .... Sings.

The Mid Week Video Muse is a day late this week. Sure would like to go to the Caribbean with Richard Gere.

Money- The Flying Lizards

From MJ's 45 RPM collection... I'm still stuck in 1979.

I See Dead People.... Who Knew?

I read a newspaper just about everyday. Not all of it, but I do glance at most of the headlines, read what interests me here and there, and I always look at the obituaries, especially in the local paper, to see who died. Heaven forbid, someone I know dies, and I miss it.

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A funny story: My mom quit sending Christmas cards to someone because she thought he died.

Turns out it was someone with the same name. She hadn't sent him a card in 3 years. A few weeks ago I saw the guy waiting in line in the drug store, and of all things, he was reading the obituaries in the paper which he just snagged from the newstand, and he was amusing the others in line at the store by saying.... 68? I beat him. 74? Beat him, too.... 86..... he got me beat....

Anyhow, I found this cool site. It lists everyone of note who died in the past 6 months. Just in case you missed it.

Midnight Cowboy - Trailer

In honor of the Academy Awards-- Best picture 1970.

Sunday Morning Muse, February 24, 2008

I don't have the flu. That could change tomorrow, but for now, I'm healthy and my world is a mine field of people with the flu, or that horrible bronchitis that is going around. I have washed my hands every hour of the day and sometimes twice an hour at work...and when I visit others.

I'm taking vitamins, drinking more pomegranite/blueberry juice, sleeping as much as I can so I'm not run down, and so far, I seem to be doing something to deflect all these germs. But what?

The pomegranite juice? Hmmmm. Antioxidants ripping through me like a liquid shield after drinking my morning glass. Could be.... or... maybe 'cause I've been eating more spinach?

All those nutrients.......and carrots... I've been eating carrots, too. :)

Beer? Someone should do a study. Does drinking beer decrease your chances of getting the flu?

No, I didn't get the flu shot. I know people who did, and a few of those people right now, actually have the flu. In the news they said something about it being a different strain. Not the strain everyone thought would infect us the most. I say drink beer. Couldn't hurt.

You've Come a Long Way...

I found this post featuring the 1943 Guide to Hiring Women. It's taken from Transportation Magazine, and lists 11 "tips" in getting more efficiency out of women workers. It's worth a look.



My favorites:

3. General experience indicates that "husky" girls - those who are just a little on the heavy side - are more even tempered and efficient than their underweight sisters.

4. Retain a physician to give each woman you hire a special physical examination - one covering female conditions. This step not only protects the property against the possibilities of lawsuit, but reveals whether the employee-to-be has any female weaknesses which would make her mentally or physically unfit for the job.

Alas, here we are in 2008, and there still is so far to go. And the culture battle is not just against the redneck, uneducated men who think a women's place in the kitchen. It's the struggle to share a boardroom, a golf course, and, dare I say the Oval Office with men who are quite frankly not sure of how to handle women who can and do compete against them for power, money, and low golf scores.

Eclipse from My Yard

Really cool..... the reddish tint is too hard to capture with my camera. This is already magnified 8 times when I took it and even more when I put it in Photoshop.But still can't see the red.

9:20 PM

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But it's my moon. :)

Sex and the City- Moon River and Me

In honor of the Solar Eclipse tonite... Moon River. Oh... and I own that Blood Sweat and Tears Album too, Mr. Big!

The Sunday Morning Muse, February 17, 2008

This morning's muse is .... love. Appropriate for Valentine's week,
I saw the 2004 romantic movie "The Notebook", and watching Rachael Mcadams and Ryan Gosling-- who reportedly met on the set and fell in love, it was hard not to believe in real love. They certainly "acted" in love. The crazy, all consuming, fighting, loving, laughing, making-out, screaming kind of love. Where you live in the moment, and the rest of the world becomes your playground. The kind of love where you lose track of time --and talk for hours.
How did they ever separate themselves from their characters...and their blooming love? Perhaps they didn't!

It was a nice movie to watch... a gentler time... the 40s... beautiful waters, sunsets, moonlight, carnivals--- romantic settings and beautiful people. And the love story was told as memories of an old couple -- in a modern day nursing home. They made it to the end. Death in each other's arms.

So I wondered.... what happened to Rachel and Ryan? No More Rain Soaked Kisses. They broke up last year.

Kate Bush - Them Heavy People

I've been looking for a Kate Bush song for weeks to post here. Ironically this is one of the first songs I ever heard by her...I bought a tape at the flea market in 1979. The beauty of her expressions ... especially at the end.... great.

Valerie Plame Movie Role

There's a new movie coming out with Nicole Kidman starring as Valerie Plame. Some of the funnier comments on the 'net I have seen so far ..

Will parts of the movie be blacked out?

Will there be a CIA Director's Cut?

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No word yet who is playing Dick Cheney in the movie. I vote for Waldorf. But he'll have to shave his moustache.

Won't You Be My Valentine?

I smiled a lot today, just observing people trying to do something for Valentine's Day. I truly don't know whether it is better or worse to be part of a couple on this day anymore.

It can be pressure... finding just the right gift, when you are literally on your way home from work. Saw a lot of those guys lined up at the candy store.... all stressed out.

Then there's the women who sit in offices full of other women and watch the delivery man pull up. It's like some dreadful love lottery.... a public display of who is loved... and who is not.

And I opened up my Email...and wow! A Valentine's E-card ....when you care enough to hit SEND.

Thanks Suki! It's nice to be remembered.

QUEEN: Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy

Mid Week Video Muse this Valentine's Week.... vintage Queen.

The Sunday Morning Muse, February 10, 2008

Last night's moon was really strange....a bottom cresent that was really bright and was in an unusual part of my view from my yard. So unusual that a neighbor, who didn't even recognize the moon through the bare, winter trees that obscured it somewhat, came over and asked me if someone put a tower in the woods up on the hill. The point here, is that the moon wasn't where it normally was, looking as it normally should....albiet, the spooky, dark woods played a part in it too. This caused concern.

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It is with this in mind that I read this story at Space.com about how a lunar eclipse saved Christopher Columbus and his crew who were starving at the time, stranded in Jamaica. Knowledge is a powerful thing. And Columbus had enough wits about him to use his knowledge.... in the form of an almanac of astrological tables.... to dupe the God Fearing natives into providing food for his men.

Columbus, of course, had a copy of the Almanac with him when he was stranded on
Jamaica. And he soon discovered from studying its tables that on the evening of
Thursday, Feb. 29, 1504, a total eclipse of the moon would take place soon after
the time of moonrise.
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Armed with this knowledge, three days before the eclipse, Columbus asked for a meeting with the natives Cacique ("chief") and announced to him that his Christian god was angry with his people for no longer supplying Columbus and his men with food. Therefore, he was about to provide a clear sign of his displeasure: Three nights hence, he would all but obliterate the rising full moon, making it appear "inflamed with wrath," which would signify the evils that would soon be inflicted upon all
of them.

The story gets even better as Columbus's God.... not only "follows through" with his sign, but on cue, returns the moon to normal afterward:

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"His god" was a sandglass that Columbus turned every half hour to time the
various stages of the eclipse, based on the calculations provided by
Regiomontanus' almanac.
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Just moments before the end of the total phase Columbus reappeared, announcing to the natives that his god had pardoned them and would now allow the moon to gradually return. And at that moment, true to Columbus' word, the moon slowly began to reappear and as it emerged from the Earth's shadow, the grateful
natives hurried away. They then kept Columbus and his men well supplied and well
fed until a relief caravel from Hispaniola finally arrived on June 29, 1504.
Columbus and his men returned to Spain on Nov. 7.

I call it a triumph of science.

Muppets for President

This Mid Week Video Muse is much needed laughter in a week of non stop politics.

Gordon Hinckley/ Fireproof Mormon Underwear

I'm thinking if Mitt Romney is elected, Magic Underwear, if it really is fireproof, could become part of Homeland Security efforts to keep us all safe from harm.

Chariots of the Gods

Remember this book? I do. As a kid my father and uncle both read it and talked about it. Unsolved mysteries.... the pyramids, cave paintings and such. Something clicked in my head and I remembered the book as I was listening to Coast to Coast AM. Giorgio Tsoukalos was being interviewed early Monday morning about ancient astronauts and I heard him mention some cave art that pictured more than just buffalo hunting.

Wikipedia:

Chariots of the Gods?: Unsolved Mysteries of the Past is a book written in 1968 by Erich von Däniken. It is centered on the hypothesis that many ancient civilizations' technologies and religion were given to them by space travelers who were welcomed as gods.

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The types of evidence he cites can be categorized as follows:

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Artifacts have been found which represent higher technological knowledge than is presumed to have existed at times when they were manufactured. Von Däniken maintains that these artifacts were produced either by extraterrestrial visitors or by humans who learned the necessary knowledge from them. Such artifacts include the Egyptian pyramids, Stonehenge, the head statues of Easter Island and the Antikythera mechanism. Further examples include a medieval map known as the Piri Reis Map, allegedly showing the Earth as it is seen from space, and the Nazca lines in Peru, which he explains as landing strips for an airfield.
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In ancient art throughout the world themes can be observed which can be interpreted to illustrate astronauts, air and space vehicles, non-human but intelligent creatures, and artifacts of high technology. Von Däniken also points out details that are similar in art of unrelated cultures.

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Wall painting: Val Camonica, Italy
Source: http://www.crystalinks.com/ancientastronauts.html

The Sunday Morning Muse, February 3, 2008

If I had to count how many I have, I'd be here all day. Each week I get 10 or 12 more plastic bags from Walmart and I keep shoving them inside more bags and more bags --and now my pantry closet is stuffed full of bags. So.... I bought the new canvas style grocery bag today... and I vow to buy one every week...(they are only a buck), and this way in just a few weeks time I can carry all my groceries home without adding to my plastic bag collection, and at the same time contributing my small part to *NOT* sending out more plastic bags into the already polluted environment. Simple.

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And guess what? The bonus is, I really LIKE these Walmart canvas bags. They are thin, yet sturdy...and I've used them to lug other stuff back and forth to other places already.

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If you haven't heard about the Giant Garbage Ball.... read on... Maybe you will think twice and start buying reusable bags, too.

(UPI news)

An enormous island of trash twice the size of Texas is floating in the Pacific Ocean somewhere between San Francisco and Hawaii.


Chris Parry with the California Coastal Commission in San Francisco said the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch, has been growing a brisk rate since the 1950s, The San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday. The trash stew is 80 percent plastic and weighs more than 3.5 million tons. "At this point, cleaning it up isn't an option," Parry said. "It's just going to get bigger as our reliance on plastics continues." Parry said using canvas bags to cart groceries instead of using plastic bags is a good first step to reducing reliance on plastics, the newspaper said.

Van the Man-- NEW RELEASES and Bad News

We're sorry, this video is no longer available.

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I'll start with the bad news. I went to look at some concert footage of Van on YouTube and EVERYTHING IS GONE. Seriously. Gone. All the neat bootlegs, rare concert footage, and really cool stuff that we could all enjoy for free on YouTube.... GONE. One of the few joys in my life.... prior to that all I had was a few "traded" CD-R's.... some 3rd and 4th generation Videos that aren't really that watchable..... and now all the stuff I just started to enjoy.... Gone.

I read that Van/Polydor had a copyright infringement problem with them and poof! Happened, near as I can figure... about 3 weeks or so ago.


Don't they realize that it was free advertisement?..... And enjoyment for the real fans out there WHO BUY EVERYTHING HE MAKES ANYWAY? I mean, it's not like you can go out and buy concert footage from other countries! And if he actually peformed close to where I live, I'd STILL GO SEE HIM anyway! Sheesh.

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I admit I panicked a few weeks ago. My "rare" version of It's Too Late to Stop Now... the "live" Double CD from the early 70's that I rave on and on and on about, had been left in the car full time and was looking pretty ragged-- I worried that I might not be able to replace it if it started skipping or simply quit playing anymore. I don't take the best care of things.... I should have copied it immediately and put the originals in a case in a vault somewhere.

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Well.... Oh Happy Day-- one good thing to talk about. I just found out it was remastered and released THIS WEEK and it can be bought... not for a $100 dollars--used.... but the downright bargain price of $11.97 at Amazon!

Plus.... I was able to pre-order Van Morrison's new release, Keep It Simple--to be released March 11th--- and it is already number 119 in sales. Imagine that. I'M STILL BUYING NEW RELEASES even though YouTube had posted all that old concert footage that you will never make money on. I'm pissed, Van. You've made your money, and are still making it. BRING BACK THE VIDEOS TO YOUTUBE.

UPDATE: I HAVE HAD A CHANGE OF HEART. I have cancelled my Amazon orders and have vowed never to buy another Van Morrison CD again. Turns out Van hired Web Sheriff and has gone after Fan sites, like this one (the Hayward site), a fan magazine, and of course the YouTube stuff, threatening legal action. More reaction to all this that even more clearly states feelings about the YouTube videos.... is located here. So Screw him. He's dissing the fans, now, and I, for one count myself as someone who will boycott his new releases, and will never attend a concert. It's about the money for him now. Not the music. I can't relate to that. Sorry. As a fan of 15 years, who has bought just about every new release, I say, Goodbye Van.

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The attack on the Hayward site, literally a Bible of your work-- properly annotated and tastefully done, was really the last straw. He did more to promote you and your music for free than you will ever know. Shame on you.

GROUNDHOG DAY TRAILER

Love this! It's a Western PA thing.

'Twas the Night Before Groundhog Day. . .

'Twas the night before Groundhog Day

and we survived an ice storm,

and now we're all wondering,

When will it get WARM?

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Groundhog day links:

What the Heck is Groundhog Day?

A History of sorts.... Barbequed Groundhog? Yikes.

Groundhog Day... the Movie.