I gotta say, I really love this new Bob Dylan album of Frank Sinatra covers. I never, ever thought I’d be saying that:
Home to myself
Melissa Manchester:
http://youtu.be/FtvdgkWkkg8
Happy Hour: Hank Mobley – Greasin’ Easy …
http://youtu.be/EqEkuJ9xnhk
He walks 21 miles a day to work and back and people want to help him
I know it’s predictable, but I love how willing people are to help an individual overcome obstacles:
After the Detroit Free Press published Robertson’s story, thousands responded on Facebook, asking how they could help. Evan Leedy, a student at Detroit’s Wayne State University, decided to set up a GoFundMe account to raise money for Robertson to buy a car.
Leedy told The Huffington Post in a phone call Monday he was inspired by Humans of New York photographer Brandon Stanton, who raised more than $1 million to send schoolkids from a crime-stricken neighborhood in Brooklyn on a trip to Harvard.
Continue reading “He walks 21 miles a day to work and back and people want to help him”
Panhandle Slim… Art for Folk..
Near miss
When I saw this, I just assumed it was an old story. There was another one? WTF?
Over the weekend, 11 cars from an 111-car CSX train derailed in South Philly. The cars were carrying crude oil, but there were no leaks, no deaths and no injuries.
This time.
But the incident happened almost exactly a year after seven crude-oil-carrying cars on a CSX train derailed over the Schuylkill River, raising questions — never entirely answered — about whether Philadelphia citizens are adequately protected from the possibility of an oil catastrophe as the city grows into a possible “energy hub” future.
“Both accidents were predictable, preventable, and a near miss from potentially catastrophic impacts,” activist Iris Marie Bloom blogged on Saturday. “There must be no third derailment. That no rupture occurred is extremely lucky. We can’t leave prevention to luck.”
She is right to be concerned. Where there are oil shipments, there are frequent — if frequently minor — incidents: ProPublica’s Isaiah Thompson reported in November that “in at least 65 cases over the last two years, tank cars bound for or arriving in Philadelphia were found to have loose, leaking or missing safety components.”
And while catastrophic events involving crude don’t happen every day, they can be devastating. In 2013, an oil-train derailment in Quebec set off an explosion that killed 47 people. There have been several more huge explosions in recent years, albeit with fewer casualties, but even federal regulators think there is good reason to be concerned.
Good shot
When will these so-called adults take responsibility for keeping guns away from little kids? Why is that so hard to do?
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A 3-year-old boy found a handgun in his mother’s purse and fired just one shot that wounded both his parents at an Albuquerque motel on Saturday, police said.
According to investigators, the toddler apparently reached for an iPod but found the loaded weapon. Police believe the shooting to be accidental.
The bullet first struck his father in the buttock and then hit the right shoulder of his mother, who is eight months pregnant, police said. His 2-year-old sister was present but unhurt.
Both injuries are non-life threatening, authorities said.
Writing
Why it works better than typing.
This really pisses me off
Particularly because of what Fox News has done to this country. I like that old saying that when your enemy is drowning, throw them an anvil:
New York (AFP) – US authorities have decided not to pursue criminal charges in connection with the phone-hacking scandal involving Rupert Murdoch’s media empire in Britain, his companies said Monday.
In statements filed with US regulators, Murdoch’s News Corp. and 21st Century Fox each said they would face no prosecution from the Justice Department.
Using identical language, the two statements said the Justice Department “has completed its investigation of voicemail interception and payments to public officials in London and is declining to prosecute” either firm.
Continue reading “This really pisses me off”
Hemingway does the Super Bowl, files late
This year there were many victories. The Patriots captured the big town beyond the frozen lakes where the Vikings sail and there was a victory over the Chiefs on a great plain and the Pats went back East and crossed the bay to a fort with a field of false grass near a large building with a restaurant on many floors in a village called Foxborough. The town was very nice and the fort was very fine. There were more victories and the townies toasted the Pats in the cafes and bawdy houses.
The leaves fell and a cloud rolled off the bay and suddenly the Pats were in it and it was snow. The winter took hold and the town was different. The war was changed too. The Pats broke camp and flew south and west to a bawdy house in the desert for the final battle. The day was clean and cool and the night was even better. The Pats and Seahawks fought till they were weary and left the field.
I watched the second half on a flat screen at a galleria and ate spicy Doritas and drank Asti with Miss Barkley. “Call me Catherine,” she said. The galleria was very nice and Catherine was very fine. We held hands. Katy Perry lip-synced “Firework” and sailed around the field on a boom crane and shouted “God bless America.”
The troops fell into line and trotted back onto the field. The Seahawks brought up trench mortars and blew a big hole in the Pats’ front line. The Pats regrouped and counterattacked. The Seahawks held the line and attempted a coup de main. It failed and the Pats prevailed.
I was on assignment but the night was young. I told Catherine her hair was very beautiful. We drove for hours and jumped into a boat and rowed to a hotel in Switzerland. “And you’ll always love me, won’t you?” Catherine said.
In the morning I rolled out of bed to write my story. I stared at the blank page until I remembered the details of the game. The players wore splendid uniforms and butted heads often and were very brave. In a few weeks I won’t even remember who played. I filed my story and put on my coat and walked out into the rain.
Editor’s note: Last year I sent Virginia Woolf to cover the game, but she made a mess of it. It was a boring affair, so she left early and filed something about a lighthouse.