A mixed bag today, as the week lumbers to a close. It was a fairly productive one; can’t complain, even though I was a no-show yesterday. Just one of those days, when nothing much went well and I ended it thinking all I wanted from life was a little Netflix and a book. The next thing you know, you look up and there’s been a plane crash, Morley Safer checks out and…it’s Thursday night.
Happy Friday.
So let’s start with the best bloggage of the bunch. We were talking a few weeks back about the various eagle cams and falcon cams and all the rest of the cams that show us avian predator life in its cuddly fledgling stage. A great piece follows, from the WashPost, about the nest-cam operators who are shutting down, because the thousands watching online? Can’t handle the truth:
The osprey cam at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is trained on a nest near the Massachusetts seaside, and the pair that call it home are now waiting for three eggs to hatch. But for the first spring in a decade, the camera is dark, and a note on the institute’s website offers only a two-sentence explanation.
“Regrettably, the cam will not be operating this season due to the increasingly aggressive actions of certain viewers the last two years,” it begins.
That is a staid reference to cam fans whose emotions about the nest morphed into vitriol — and fighting words. When the osprey mother began neglecting and attacking her chicks in 2014, anxiety exploded among some viewers, as did demands that the institution intervene to save the baby birds. When the same thing happened in 2015, the public passions took a more personal turn.
“It is absolutely disgusting that you will not take those chicks away from that demented witch of a parent!!!!!” one viewer emailed to Jeffrey Brodeur, the communications specialist who ran the camera. Another wrote: “I realize this is nature, but once you put up a cam to view into their worlds it is no longer nature. You have a responsibility to help n save when in need.”
It’s a great story — lots of anecdotes about people who are way too over-invested in the world that flies around over our heads. How much so? Oh, you have no idea:
In 2014, when the chicks featured on a bald-eagle cam in North Fort Myers, Fla., weren’t getting much to eat, some viewers decided to take matters into their own hands. Under cover of darkness, they headed to the nest site and tossed meat into it — a roast, to be specific.
I love the eagle cams as much as the next person, but when things get a little dicey, I just click away. That’s why we have Donald Trump – for the distraction.
Speaking of which.
The WP also has a pretty good piece about the next generation of Trumps, specifically his sons, Eric and Don.
It’s pretty good, but Hank Stuever started an interesting Facebook conversation about the difference between the Trump scions, who at least talked to the Washington Post, and Chelsea Clinton, who apparently still thinks it’s 1993 and she’s 13 years old, protected like the tender bud she was then. Now it’s 2016 and she’s 36, and she still doesn’t answer a question that wasn’t vetted, but feels she can campaign for her mother and face only the scrutiny she approves. So, then: Props to the young Trumps, who I liked better after reading this. Dammit.
Can we trust the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education? Because these numbers are crazy:
If 10 percent of American smokers gave up cigarettes and the rest cut back by 10 percent, the U.S. could shave $63 billion off medical costs the next year, the analysis found.
It doesn’t pass the smell test, but I have no idea it’s a big number. But is it that big?
The new study found that regions with lower smoking rates had substantially lower medical costs from 1992 through 2009.
Californians spent $15.4 billion less on healthcare in 2009 than they would have if they smoked as much as the national average, the analysis estimates. At the other extreme, Kentucky residents spent an estimated $1.7 billion more than the national average on healthcare because they smoked more.
Maybe.
Here’s a nice Neal Rubin column from Detroit, about the breakup of a chain of sleazebags ripping off Detroit Public Schools. I don’t want to excerpt anything from it, but read it — it’s good.
Finally, Lisa Belkin, the former NYT reporter and author “Show Me a Hero,” wrote a piece about the time when, as a young reporter, Donald Trump made a pass at her. It attracted this fan mail:
Sorry for the language, but this is the sort of thing women who write on the internet get used to. Enjoy your weekend. May you get no communiques like that.
Dexter said on May 20, 2016 at 1:57 am
I got no beef with any Trumpettes nor Trumpdudes, but for racy ink, they ain’t no Todd, Track, Bristol and Willow and Piper. That crew would have made Willie, tokin’ on the White House roof , as tame as the queen her majesty having tea in a Windsor Castle garden.
MichaelG, the finish at Mazda Laguna Seca was like time travel again as I used to drive out there from Ord and look around…it wasn’t all that far away. It was called plain old Laguna Seca Racetrack then. I never went to a race, but I was there once when Dickie Smothers of TV fame had a fast car on the track. He loved racing cars.
Yesterday they had good weather for that hard, nearly 10,000 feet constantly ascending race today. They didn’t have any snow like plagued the event there (Lake Tahoe) a few years ago. Amgen is different…now it’s true I don’t follow cycling year-round, so there are many great riders this year I have never heard of. One guy is 39 years old, one is 19, and all are in fantastic shape…a ride like that, with so many sharp ascents, would have most folks bodies exploding from the chest outward.
It’s great the A-team of Paul Sherwen , Phil Liggett, and Christian Vande Velde are in the TV booth.
1210 chars
Sherri said on May 20, 2016 at 2:55 am
I’ve complained a lot the last couple of days about the misogyny this campaign season, and I stand by those complaints. However, that all pales in comparison to the utterly vile anti-Semitism coming out from underneath the rocks Trump has turned over: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2016/05/19/new-york-times-staffer-tweets-out-op-ed-critical-of-trump-faces-anti-semitic-avalanche/
Never Trump. Never.
425 chars
Jolene said on May 20, 2016 at 5:36 am
I’m convinced by the data on smoking. Just recently, I heard a health policy guy point to smoking cessation as, perhaps, the most important point of intervention in the effort to hold down healt insurance premiums. Think how many diseases are linked to cigarette smoking. From cancer.gov:
Smoking is a leading cause of cancer and death from cancer. It causes cancers of the lung, esophagus, larynx, mouth, throat, kidney, bladder, liver, pancreas, stomach, cervix, colon, and rectum, as well as acute myeloid leukemia (1-3).
And check out this list of the ten worst diseasescaused by cancer. Many of these are chronic illnesses with costs that extend over years.
824 chars
Jolene said on May 20, 2016 at 5:53 am
Look at what the UK is doing to reduce smoking.
. Pretty dramatic, and the article indicates there’s some evidence that similar efforts in Australia have worked.
348 chars
adrianne said on May 20, 2016 at 6:16 am
The election of our first African-American president seemed to unleash the worst racism I’ve ever heard in my life. The n word was never heard in public, when I was growing up; now it’s used with impunity. And the vile attacks on women are par for the course in our social media. Sigh.
285 chars
Andrea said on May 20, 2016 at 7:35 am
Belkin link goes to Rubin story, I think.
41 chars
nancy said on May 20, 2016 at 7:55 am
Thanks for telling me. Fixed.
29 chars
Connie said on May 20, 2016 at 8:26 am
This is the second year that my husband is following and photographing the osprey family with a nest on a cell tower near the library. He recently found another osprey cell tower nest in a nearby park. According to a newspaper article we read, cell tower employees are trained and careful to not disturb osprey nests on cell towers. TUrns out there are a lot of them.
368 chars
Mark P said on May 20, 2016 at 9:16 am
According to what I have read, around 45 million adults in the US are smokers. If 10 percent quit smoking and saved a total of $63 billion, that would amount to around $14,000 a person in saved medical expense. That assumes that only the 4.5 million who stopped would save on medical expense. It doesn’t include the medical expense incurred by others, for example, the children of smokers, or of smokers who aren’t considered adults. Is that a reasonable number? Given the cost of medical treatment these days, it’s certainly possible.
535 chars
Bruce Fields said on May 20, 2016 at 9:56 am
Another way to approach it might be: https://www.cms.gov/research-statistics-data-and-systems/statistics-trends-and-reports/nationalhealthexpenddata/nationalhealthaccountshistorical.html reports $3 trillion annual US health care spending (wonder why it’s triple the 2011 number in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_United_States#GDP_by_industry ?), so 63 billion would be about 2% (does that mean we’d cut 20% if everyone stopped?). I dunno, seems like a believable order of magnitude anyway….
507 chars
Deborah said on May 20, 2016 at 9:59 am
Smoking is certainly a scourge. I tried smoking when I was in high school, at slumber parties once or twice. Thank goodness it never clicked with me, it always felt horrible, so the few times I did it I didn’t inhale, which is beside the point I guess. My ex smoked like a fiend, I tried to keep him from smoking in the house and car but it never worked. I’m sure I got my share of second hand smoke in the fifteen years we were married. He still smokes to this day, he and his wife smoke a lot. I can’t believe how expensive cigarettes are in Chicago, how anyone can afford it is beyond me.
591 chars
nancy said on May 20, 2016 at 10:06 am
Through my pulmonologist buddy Frank, I’ve learned that all the shaming/education/etc in the world doesn’t have much of an effect on smoking rates anymore. What does? Higher taxes that drive the price up. Money, basically. Like Deborah, I don’t know how people afford to smoke when it’s $7/pack.
295 chars
Jolene said on May 20, 2016 at 10:22 am
The cost of cigarettes is, I imagine, why you have people selling them as singles on the streets of New York, which, as you likely recall. Is how Eric Garner met his death.
172 chars
Bitter Scribe said on May 20, 2016 at 10:25 am
Anthropomorphism is one of those things best taken in small doses.
66 chars
Deborah said on May 20, 2016 at 10:26 am
It’s over $10 a pack in Chicago.
32 chars
Bitter Scribe said on May 20, 2016 at 10:37 am
I’m so old that when I smoked, a carton cost about the same as a pack does today. How can anyone but millionaires afford to smoke?
130 chars
Jolene said on May 20, 2016 at 10:59 am
The price of cigarettes is especially remarkable when you consider who is paying it. The proportion of below poverty-level people who smoke is 10% higher than the proportion of above poverty-level people: 26.3% vs. 15.2%.
346 chars
Mark P said on May 20, 2016 at 11:32 am
My former boss was a former smoker when I started working for him. He hated cigarettes. But when conditions at work deteriorated, he began smoking again. He’s one of the smartest people I know; he knows what smoking does to a person, but he can’t stop. Unfortunately for him, he can afford all the cigarettes he wants.
318 chars
nancy said on May 20, 2016 at 11:40 am
The one human moment displayed by Chris Christie during this campaign was the extemporaneous comments he made about his mother’s smoking, how it killed her and how she desperately wanted to stop, but couldn’t. He was talking about addiction in general. Spoke the truth, too.
274 chars
Julie Robinson said on May 20, 2016 at 11:48 am
My Dad tried so many times. He tried so hard. I always knew he’d be cranky when I saw the gum and hard candies, but I wouldn’t have minded if that’s what it took. But he never could; it just held him in its grip, and he died at 62. Sixty friggin’ two. Didn’t get to see his grandkids grow up, play in sports, perform in plays, graduate. Breaks my heart still, and it’s been 22 years.
The only positive thing about Dad smoking is that I never wanted to, because not once did it look attractive.
496 chars
Suzanne said on May 20, 2016 at 12:47 pm
In my high school cashiering days back in the mid-70s, cigarettes were $.35 a pack. If we were supposed to card people we thought not old enough to buy smokes, I sure as heck never did. My kids marvel at me telling them about the cigarette machines in restaurants.
264 chars
brian stouder said on May 20, 2016 at 1:35 pm
What Julie said, almost to the word.
I’m 55, and I’ve already outlived my dad by 2 years(!)
He DID live to see two of his sons get married (including me, to wife #1, which was a swing-and-a-miss, but waddayagonna do, eh?) but he didn’t live to see any of his grandchildren (died 33 years ago) – which currently total 6)
I believe he was a 3-pack (plus) a day man; if he was awake, he was smoking.
Winston 100’s, in gold packaging.
But one positive from his exceedingly unpleasant (for him) exit from the earth was that it motivated my mom to quit smoking altogether (although I think her rate was something like one or two cigarettes in a day)
658 chars
Sherri said on May 20, 2016 at 1:44 pm
If only knowledge were enough to fight addiction! My personal experience is that I quit drinking when the pain of drinking was worse than the pain of not drinking. Cigarette taxes are one way of increasing the pain of smoking.
226 chars
brian stouder said on May 20, 2016 at 3:09 pm
Well, it’s been a go-go day, but I did pop into the Lisa Belkin article, and it was quite off-putting.
Let us stipulate a thing that (I bet) el-Trumpo (or his defenders) will run to:
JFK was an animal, who treated women terribly, period.
RFK, too – when he wasn’t enabling his brother.
If they run to that line, one might look to a filthy-rich Republican who was on the out-skirts (so to speak) of the Presidency of the United States, Nelson Rockefeller, as an example of an egocentric political animal (who also did the work of reading and producing policy papers and consensus) who treated women better
623 chars
brian stouder said on May 20, 2016 at 3:34 pm
Gunfire at the White House?
It’s BREAKING NEWS right now…I’m hoping this becomes an ‘erroneous initial report’…
118 chars
Suzanne said on May 20, 2016 at 3:47 pm
Apparently, the NRA has endorsed Trump, so how appropriate that there was a shooting near the White House.
106 chars
David C. said on May 20, 2016 at 5:24 pm
Good news, if true, but who’s going to break it to the Bernie-bros.
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/05/old-cw-sanders-homewrecker-new-cw-sanders-peacemaker
169 chars
MichaelG said on May 20, 2016 at 5:28 pm
MMJeff from the other day’s post. Alan Furst looks very intriguing. I’ll try him. Meantime, if you like him, I’m sure you’ll like Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther novels set in wartime Berlin. Excellent.
I agree that Laguna Seca’s a great track, Dexter. I’ve been to many races there. And again agreed that the commentariat on the cycling coverage is the best.
379 chars
Deborah said on May 20, 2016 at 6:01 pm
We have been to Placerville Speedway which is in the Sacto area (I think?). My husband’s daughter and her in-laws are into sprint car races and every year they go to that area around Labor Day, we went once. It was fun but not really my thing. The area was beautiful, gold rush country, I liked that part.
305 chars
MichaelG said on May 20, 2016 at 6:54 pm
Placerville is only a few miles up 50 from Sacramento. You’re on the money, Deborah.
85 chars
Joe K said on May 20, 2016 at 7:04 pm
Brian Stouder,
Spent some time in Springfield Illinois today, had just enough time to visit your friend Abe’s resting place, impressive, it’s a big monument surrounded by some peaceful grounds. Will try and get back when I have more time.
Pilot Joe
252 chars
alex said on May 20, 2016 at 8:00 pm
Deborah, my friends just got back from Chicago and took my (your) advice and went to Eataly. They enjoyed themselves.
117 chars
brian stouder said on May 20, 2016 at 10:13 pm
JoeK – it is quite beautiful over there, indeed. A few years ago I read a book about a group of chuckleheads who very nearly stole President Lincoln’s physical remains, from his grave!
Then, for several years after that, the casket with the president’s remains were in the basement of the monument, under a pile of lumber(!!)
I believe the book was called “Stealing Lincoln’s Body”, and the guys who nearly succeeded were second-rate counterfeiters, who swung for the fences.
Anyway – another very neat place in Springfield is their Lincoln Museum; and another is the Lincoln home; and another is the Lincoln law office….and come to think of it, I’m past-due for another visit to Springfield, too!
708 chars
Deborah said on May 21, 2016 at 12:52 am
We were invited to dinner this evening at a place in Marina Towers, sometimes called the corn cob buildings. I had never been inside a unit there until tonight. A colleague of my husband’s at IIT live on the 35th floor. It was interesting, the units are pie wedge shaped, very small, even smaller than our place. These people are architects and did a great job making the most of the space. Here’s a link to the buildings I’m talking about https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_City
483 chars
Hattie said on May 21, 2016 at 1:41 am
Don’t forget Rush Limbaugh calling 12 year old Chelsea Clinton the White House dog.
83 chars
Dexter said on May 21, 2016 at 2:08 am
One thing we all share here is we know tobacco company horror stories. We used to buy packs for a quarter from unattended cigarette machines. Little kids were dispatched to gas stations to buy them for their parents. They stayed a quarter until 1968 when they were thirty cents. I got smokes for free when I played baseball in Winston-Salem because our ancient cockroach hotel was right beside the RJ Reynolds Winston and Camel producing factory and every time the tour guide changed we’d take a tour and get free samples…in Indiana, at Little League games, reps would hand out free 4-pack samples of True cigarettes to adults. As of last week, you run out of smokes in Midtown Manhattan, you pay $17.50 per pack. I hear about illegal carton sales in Astoria Queens alley-ways; folks still drive to North Carolina for van loads and deal them in NYC as a means of employment.
My brother-in-law who died in November at age 65 had had one stent, then two stents inserted into arteries after repeated heart attacks, his fingers were yellow-stained and his teeth were falling out, and his smoking escalated right to the end. Up over 4 packs a day; he was buried with a can of beer and a pack of cigarettes, and a fucking cigarette in his mouth as he lay in repose before the funeral.
1290 chars
alex said on May 21, 2016 at 8:10 am
The Marina Towers have regained their luster. Back in the ’80s I considered buying a condo there because they were so inexpensive at the time, but this was for good reason: they were also notoriously frigid in winter and the upkeep of the buildings had taken a big nosedive. These factors were enough to dissuade me although if I’d bought in then I’d be sittin’ pretty now. In the interval things have been upgraded considerably.
429 chars
Julie Robinson said on May 21, 2016 at 10:56 am
Alex, that was what I’d always heard about them. ComEd used to have just about the highest rates* in the country and an all-electric, pre-insulation space must cost a fortune to heat. I wonder if they’ve been retrofitted. Still, they’re an intriguing icon.
*Mom unearthed a letter I’d written her in the 80’s and I’d apparently included an insert from our local electric co. At that time ComEd was twice as high as I&M. Yikes.
434 chars
beb said on May 21, 2016 at 11:08 am
I read this morning that Detroit’s first amateur league soccer club played their first game last night against Ann Arbor. They drew 7500 fans. That’s probably more than the Tigers are drawing now [/sarcasm].
The White House shooting yesterday does put into relief a report that finds that most mass shooters are not “insane” so any plan to reduce mass shootings by improving mental health care is not going to work.
The first time I head #BlueLivesMatter I wondered if this had something to do with the Blue Man Group. But, no, it’s people who think cops are not getting enough respect, are being targeted for murder and are afraid to do their job. (If by “do their job” you mean kill black people then this last is a good thing). Now Louisiana wants to add cops to the list of protected people under their anti-discrimination laws. As if cops don’t already get the benefit of doubt when it comes to injurying people or being shot at.
My daughter, who moved down to Indiana to care for my dad is back for the week. We are planning to visit Greenfield Village today, but now I see rain is forecast. Bummer.
1117 chars
Heather said on May 21, 2016 at 11:29 am
I had a chance to see visit one of Marina Towers condos a couple years ago. I didn’t care for the space, but yeah, the views are amazing. Unfortunately I discovered that night that a slight fear of heights had morphed into a severe fear of heights, and I had to admire the sights from the safety of the sliding doors. Sigh. Also I remember hearing in the 70s that the buildings had a huge problem with river rats.
413 chars
MichaelG said on May 21, 2016 at 11:48 am
River rats. Huh. For what it’s worth, the AAA baseball team here in Sacto is called “the River Cats”.
There is an excellent site for those who are interested in fiction. It has a bio and bibliography for just about everyone who ever wrote a novel and is very up to date so you will know when your favorite author will be coming out with a new book. Check it out.
https://www.fantasticfiction.com/
406 chars
adrianne said on May 21, 2016 at 12:17 pm
So not only are the Trump commenters vile misogynists and racists, they’re anti-Semitic as well. Check out this account of the response from a New York TImes reporter when he Tweeted out an op-ed critical of Trump:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2016/05/19/new-york-times-staffer-tweets-out-op-ed-critical-of-trump-faces-anti-semitic-avalanche/
368 chars
basset said on May 21, 2016 at 1:32 pm
Beb, tell us how the Greenfield Village visit goes – Mrs. B and I plan to go this summer.
89 chars
Sherri said on May 21, 2016 at 2:14 pm
Yesterday was the filing deadline for candidates for this fall’s election here. The Governor and the other state wide races are up, all the reps to the legislature (but not state senators), three state supreme court justices, and a host of superior court judges. I made my first donations for this cycle now that we know the races, to my preferred candidates for Congress, legislature, State Superintendent, and one of the three incumbent supreme court justices.
My Congressperson us Suzan Delbene, and she’s pretty safe, but the people running against her are always so awful that I don’t like to take chances (we have a top two primary here, not Dem/Rep primaries.
One of my state reps has an opponent thus year that I find personally repellent. He just sets off my alarms for “doesn’t deal well with women.” Plus I disagree with him on almost everything.
Mary Yu is the incumbent justice, who is strong on civil liberties and is being opposed by a lawyer with the Discovery Institute, the think tank that inflicted intelligent design on the country.
There are a half dozen people running to lead education, but I was strongly impressed by one, and I hope she survives the primary at least.
1208 chars
brian stouder said on May 21, 2016 at 2:32 pm
Sherri – I believe free public education to be Issue A1A.
It still amazes me that so many folks support (either knowingly, and with malice; or ignorantly – but still destructively) the re-imposition of segregation and/or flat-out abandonment of public education.
Forget those no-life terrorists who occasionally grab a headline with some horrible bloody attack, that fills the news cycles for a few days. The anti-public education crowd are attempting (and with some success, thus far) to affect and impose genuinely destructive, terribly consequential change upon our cities and states, and our country
609 chars
brian stouder said on May 21, 2016 at 2:42 pm
You know, honestly – what the hell is going on at the Preakness?
http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/horse-racing/preakness/bal-homeboykris-dies-after-winning-first-race-on-preakness-day-20160521-story.html
The lead:
Maryland-bred Homeboykris, a 9-year-old horse that ran in the 2010 Kentucky Derby, collapsed and died after winning the first race at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday, according to a Pimlico official.More misfortune struck in the final turn of Race 4 when Pramedya, a 4-year-old filly running out of the No. 8 position, collapsed on the turf and suffered a left-front mid-cannon-bone fracture. She was euthanized on the track.
Apparently it’s wet and rainy there today…but they’ve never heard of a rain delay?
746 chars
Sherri said on May 21, 2016 at 3:22 pm
That’s just the tip of the iceberg, Brian. The NYTimes did a big article on the industry 4 years ago: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/us/death-and-disarray-at-americas-racetracks.html
185 chars
Dexter said on May 21, 2016 at 4:24 pm
Charleston River Dogs. Bill Murray and Mike Veeck (Ol’ Will’s son) are the meat of the ownership group. Murray loves minor league baseball and has ownership stakes in nine teams around the USA.
http://charlestongateway.com/wp-content/uploads/logo-riverdogs.gif
262 chars
Deborah said on May 21, 2016 at 4:52 pm
Ugh Heather, river rats. Yuck. I wouldn’t want to live in Marina Towers for sure. I wasn’t crazy about the pie wedge shape of the space we were in, but as I said the folks we visited made the most of it. Another weird thing is that you go down below grade under a bubble dome to get to the main lobby, where you sign in to go up the elevators to the unit you’re visiting. It’s very dated. And I wouldn’t want a balcony above the 20th floor or so in Chicago, it’s just too windy. The folks we visited had a low concrete table on their balcony that was about 3″ thick at the table top and the base was a solid cube of concrete that was about 12″ x 12″ and in strong winds it moves. I was astounded. They were on floor 35 with a northwest view, so they get the brunt of cold winds in winter. But river rats, that’s disgusting.
823 chars
Deborah said on May 21, 2016 at 8:00 pm
I made a good dessert tonight mostly from stuff I got at the green market this morning. I made a rhubarb compote with honey instead of sugar earlier today, poured that over fresh strawberries and then put a dollop of plain Greek yogurt on top (Fage brand, 0 fat kind). It was very tasty and healthy too.
303 chars
beb said on May 21, 2016 at 11:45 pm
Basset: Greenfield Village is 30 minutes away from us. We have annual memberships and visit frequently. The place is fantastic. Very clean, well managed with docents in most/all the historic buildings giving background info on each place.
There’s a working farm, a village of crafts — we’re partial to the glass-blowing demonstrations, an old-time baseball field. You can take a horse drawn bus around the village or ride on a model A. Here’s a link to their web-site. There are several weekend events throughout the summer. There’s a civil War re-enactment on Memorial Day weekend and a Vintage car rally on Father’s day. Finding parking on those days can be a challenge.
http://www.thehenryford.org/village/events/index.aspx
Today was gorgeous. Temp was 70, overcast with a mild breeze. Not too hot, not too cold. And if it should happen to rain there’s the Henry Ford Museum right next door and that’s worth a trip in itself. I hover between the farm machinery on one end of the building and the trains on the other end.
1033 chars
Dexter said on May 22, 2016 at 1:19 am
beb…haven’t been since 1987 ( I remember because it was the same day the big airplane crashed , bound for Phoenix but barely lifted off and Middlebelt Road was shut down and I-94 was a parking lot, an we were in it).
Is the Olde Tavern still serving those time-theme meals? I remember delicious beef and potatoes, apple pie, the salt was on the table ion a small dish, no shakers, and the waitstaff were all in bonnets and period dresses. The plates and dishes were pewter or something akin. I think maybe it was a re-creation of Fort Dearborn’s time. It was fantastic. I loved that place. The day we went there was an old car show…hundreds of classic Detroit cars.
676 chars
Dexter said on May 22, 2016 at 1:24 am
Cecelia Crocker as an adult. She survived that crash. She and she alone.
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1345732.1368716099!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_750/survivor17n-2-web.jpg
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1345733.1368716102!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_1200/survivor17n-1-web.jpg
359 chars
Dexter said on May 22, 2016 at 2:15 am
Cher is 70. One day a few years ago Don Imus was talking about a fund to assist injured military veterans. Cher called in and transferred $300,000 to the fund. Even crusty old Imus was impressed.
Here’s some show-biz photos:
http://pagesix.com/2016/05/20/cher-turns-70/?_ga=1.199852969.622768273.1449987691#1
312 chars
ROGirl said on May 22, 2016 at 4:46 am
Teams at Huron High School in Ann Arbor are called the River Rats (the Huron River). I heard that the students selected the name when the school opened.
152 chars
basset said on May 22, 2016 at 9:05 am
Thanks, Beb… we’re planning to take a couple days and go to the Ford Museum as well. The Rouge plant is on the tour package as well, went there in the late 70s when they were making Fox-body Mustangs and Capris.
214 chars
brian stouder said on May 22, 2016 at 12:16 pm
Beb/basset – it’s been a few years since the young folks and I visited Dearborn; you’ve put it back on the radar…maybe this summer
Dex – talk about a picture being worth a thousand words (or maybe 10,000)
And further to Sherri’s mention of the publicly elected education officials, there’s this bit of heart-breaking, intentionally soul-crushing news, about a Valedictorian and Student of the Year, who was prohibited from making the walk at commencement, and getting his diploma.
http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2016/05/21/valedictorian-cant-walk-graduation-beard-pkg.wvue
It’s a CNN video, so there’s no lead to post. Shorter version: straight-A student, Valedictorian, was told to shave his beard (which he always had, all through his high school career) – or else he wouldn’t be allowed to cross the stage and collect his diploma.
Here’s an example of a young man who the President of the United States should invite to the White House
958 chars
Joe K said on May 22, 2016 at 2:39 pm
Bassett,
I visited the Rouge last summer, they are building F- style pickups now. I worked assembly most my Dana career so I understood what was going on and was still fascinated.
Pilot Joe
192 chars
adrianne said on May 22, 2016 at 3:31 pm
That valedictorian story enraged me. His beard? Really? Didn’t we stop fighting about hair in the late 1960s?
109 chars
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 22, 2016 at 10:26 pm
MichaelG, thank you. I will check those out.
44 chars