imkittymyers at hotmail dot com
Saturday, July 15, 2006
INTERBLOGATORY WEEKEND GRAB BAG
Nurse G and I have always loved horror-scopes and psychics, so we were excited when a psychic set up shop locally back in 2002. Like all new entrepreneurs in a small town with a paper needing filler, Amber, the psychic, got a splashy mention, with picture, in the local paper. Although she wasn't located on the main business drag, that store front still must have cost her a pretty penny, which was why she charged more than just a pretty penny for a simple reading. I think it was $40. Whatever. G and I decided "Why not?" I got the basic tarot card shuffle and can't recall a single thing. But Amber went all out with Nurse G. She gave G the full-court psychic press. Apparently G's chakra was in dire straights and needed healing badly. Amber prescribed chakra-healing candles -- or maybe it was bath salts or incense -- costing $400.Of course, G never shelled out another penny and we never returned to Amber the scammer. We chalked our readings up to entertainment. We did, however, begin to hear stories about her. Of how she scammed some bubblehead out of $800 for bath salts to cure her wounded chakra. Of how Amber was seen shopping for these mystical supplies at Sam's Club. Then her store front closed and she set up shop in her home right down the street. I passed it every day to and from work. I recall that there was a tussle with city ordinances about her lawn sign. Then one day I noticed a U-haul in the driveway, and the next morning she was gone. Poof! I heard she left creditors in her wake, not to mention lots of p-o'd suckers.
She was petite and pretty with dark features. She had an accent, and depending upon whom she told, Amber was either from Texas or Romania or Cuba or all three. She was married with two young children. Her last name was Marks, which is why the following caught my eye.
Judith Regan's Tarot Cards Didn't Mention Anything About a Fake Psychic: Regina's real name is actually Gina Marie Marks. And Marks isn't actually a psychic but "part of a notorious Gypsy criminal family that has personally been involved in well-documented fortunetelling scams" who turns up in police records tied to swindling with $75,000 price tags.
h/t Grumpy Old Bookman
Of other interest ...
8 Pat Hynes, of Ankle Biting Pundits, has written a book (pictured right). You can read a chapter by surfing over to APB and clicking on the picture of his book in the left sidebar.8 Dave has posted some spectacular photos: Vic Pomel, sent me these pictures of an air show held over Jones Beach in the New York City area.
8 Boy speculates on The *C* Word: Corrupt, crazy, crooked – and something else ;~)
8 In case you ever wondered, this is the original Mr. Big on Sex & the City.
8 Without the makeup artist and the hair stylist and the wardrobe lady and the lighting director and the photographer who’s also proficient in Photoshop, she looks like any other hausfrau.
8 How could I not link to this! Kitty Litter: When I finally thought the time was right, I asked her to marry me. She said that she wasn't quite ready and she wanted to hold off on marriage plans until her cat died.
8 Ahhhh, I'm her daddy ;~)
Just for the weekend fun of it ...
8 BORDER PATROL : There is one simple objective to this game, keep them out at any cost!
8 Trunk Monkey videos
8 And, to help keep you cool, you can always play these classics:
1) Shuffle the Penguin and 2) Penguin Swing.
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Friday, July 14, 2006
AT LEAST IT'S NOT FRIDAY THE 13th
Check out Lucianne's new mug. Everyone who's anyone is buying at least one. And while you're at it, check out the Mug Memoirs: Ldotter BusyBee, one of the first to order the Most Beautiful Mug in the World wrote to ask if it was okay to drink hot chocolate out of it. We told her we thought it was a crazy thing to do but go ahead.
8 Just for fun, here's the jigsaw puzzle of the day.
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Thursday, July 13, 2006
YOU’RE A LIB AND I’M RIGHT
This morning I got an e-mail from a good friend asking me if I knew that the “kids” who made the movie Loose Change are from Oneonta (NY), something she learned by reading an article in the current issue of Vanity Fair. I have not seen this movie for the same reason I have not seen Michael Moore’s crockumentary. My buddy Pat and his buddy James have started a blog called Screw Loose Change which is "Dedicated to Exposing the Lies, Distortions and Myths in the Movie, Loose Change.” However, since I’ve no interest in the movie, I haven’t spent much time at SLC. But I come from Oneonta (via the nearby village of Morris) -- my mother lives there, and my brother’s business is in Oneonta -- so I was interested in the Oneonta guys. Luckily, someone posted pictures of the article so I don’t have to buy the magazine.
I’m not surprised that they come from Oneonta. With SUCO and Hartwick, it’s a liberal college town. It’s also dirty and depressing as hell. But it has great food!
In other news …
8 PERIL LURKS ON FIRE ISLAND: A STORMY welcome might await Sens. Chuck Schumer and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) when they arrive at Fire Island Pines for a July 22 fund-raiser. Fashion mogul Perry Wolfman will open up his bay-front mansion so the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee can fill its coffers with gay dollars. Admission runs from $1,000 to $5,000. But both Schumer and Boxer oppose same-sex marriage, which has some Pines activists planning to meet their boat with a noisy protest. "If they don't respect our right to marry, they should not come into our community trolling for money," said one.
8 Yes, it's true (sniff sniff), Christie Brinkley is shedding hubby #4. DOWNBEAT SPLIT OF UPTOWN GIRL Apparently, the rumors have been flying because I’ve been noticing a lot of searches in my stat meter these days. They check out my blog because nearly two years ago I posted this gem: Yesterday’s preeminent Page Six in the NY POST (outdated link) had this touching piece of family activism: CHRISTIE Brinkley and her hunky architect hubby, Peter Cook, have apparently brainwashed their son, Jack Paris Brinkley Cook, 9. The boy wrote a letter to the editor of the Southampton Press titled "How I Feel," which states: "George Bush lies a lot and John Kerry will not lead us into war . . . George Bush said there were weapons of mass destruction, so he sent in all the troops. And did they find [any]? No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" He continues, "I think John Kerry will not lie to us and he will lead us to peace . . . [Bush] wants to go to war with Iraq, to get oil and finish his daddy's war, and if we let him get any further there will not be a world."*
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
THE SUMMER OF MR. BIG DIG
That's "Mr. Big Dig" and Papa. It was their company which was hired for Corning's (NY) version of "The Big Dig," named after the original in Boston. Back in 2002, Corning had no choice but to tear up historic Market Street and replace the antiquated water pipes. The city had postponed the project for too long. In fact, when they began digging, some of the pipes burst and flooded the street. Just a couple of inches. The timing could not have been worse for the struggling shops on the street. Corning, Inc.'s stock was still in free fall from when the telecom bubble had burst. As a result, the company eliminated 28% of its employees. Ripping up the five-block long business district during the tourist season seemed like the kiss of death.Then, like a ray of sunshine, along comes Mr. Big Dig in his big machinery. The stores were hurting for customers, which gave all the females, and a few males, too, lots of time to ogle the hunky operator while humming Jean Knight's classic Mr. Big Stuff (Mr. Big Stuff, Who do you think you are. Mr. Big Stuff).
De Vincentis & Son realized how vital it was that the project be completed as quickly as possible, so the street could return to normal. I never saw construction workers work so well so quickly. They were all business, especially Mr. Big Dig. And to make certain that his attention wasn't diverted by all us drooling idiots along the street, Papa was close-by at all times. He ran a tight ship.
Our Big Dig was just five blocks long. Boston's Big Dig (timeline) is another story.
Woman killed when part of ceiling falls in Big Dig tunnel: At least 12 tons of concrete fell from the ceiling of one of Boston's Big Dig tunnels, crushing a woman in a car and again raising concerns about the integrity of the massive highway project that is the central artery through the city.
In other construction news, we've got an illiegal immigration problem up here in the Northeast.
Illegal Immigrants In Northern Tier: On Monday Athens Township Police found the 26 immigrants after they pulled over two cars for traffic violations. Watch the video.
Think about it: twenty-six grown men in TWO vehicles!
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Tuesday, July 11, 2006
IF YOU'RE IN HIS NEIGHBORHOOD
Rodger Jacobs needs a new place to live, a change of scenery. That's RJ on the left. He's often mistaken for Hugh Laurie of House, probably because Laurie is forever trying to imitate RJ. Or I should say that Laurie is mistaken for RJ.
RJ is a writer. His Trace stories are becoming legendary.
Okay, so his politics are more left coast than fly-over country, but he's still an interesting guy.
Besides, he says he's neat and brushes his teeth regularly.
8763 Wonderland Seeks Room To Let: I need to get the fuck out of this hotel is what I’m saying. I’m looking for a room or a small converted garage or something or other to let in the immediate area, the immediate area being Silver Lake, Atwater Village, or Los Feliz. Before I start skimming through ads on Craigs List – shudder – I thought I would give a few of you a chance to step up to the plate.
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"IT'S ALL THIS GLOBAL WARMING"
A couple of weeks ago, there was severe flooding in the Northeast. A section of I-88 over a culvert, between Sidney and Unadilla (NY), collapsed causing two truckers to plunge to their death. This is a picture of the reconstruction of that highway. In the meantime, however, traffic has been detoured. We travel this highway every time we visit our relatives.
The homes of both my niece and nephew were flooded. It was the second serious flooding my niece's home has endured within fifteen months. Of course, their home is right next to the Susquehanna River. So naturally, when we all got together over the weekend, the topic du jour was the flood. As my niece was bringing us up to date on their home, she said, "It's all this global warming."
Just the words "global warming" grate on me, like fingernails on a chalkboard. So I replied, "Do you know that when Grandma B was married in July of 1911 it was 105*?"
You would have thought that hot weather was a recent phenomena by the looks on their faces.
Heat wave was 'truly amazing': Seventy years ago this week, a two-week heat wave across much of Canada claimed the lives of almost 800 people, destroyed crops, killed livestock and even prompted the authorities to allow topless bathing suits on men.
From July 5-17, 1936, the country baked from Alberta to Ontario, with temperatures soaring as high as 44.4 C [112*F] in St. Albans, Man.
…
Horses drawing carriages were known simply to drop dead in the street because of the heat, fruit literally baked on the trees and transients were recruited directly off trains to help fight forest fires.
…
"The climate is changing all the time, and what's going on right now is well within natural variability."
While we're on the subject ...
Top 10 Ways to Destroy Earth: Destroying the Earth is harder than you may have been led to believe.
You've seen the action movies where the bad guy threatens to destroy the Earth. You've heard people on the news claiming that the next nuclear war or cutting down rainforests or persisting in releasing hideous quantities of pollution into the atmosphere threatens to end the world.
Fools.
The Earth was built to last. It is a 4,550,000,000-year-old, 5,973,600,000,000,000,000,000-tonne ball of iron. It has taken more devastating asteroid hits in its lifetime than you've had hot dinners, and lo, it still orbits merrily.
So my first piece of advice to you, dear would-be Earth-destroyer, is: do not think this will be easy.
In other news ...
8 Hotels Housing Sex Offenders
8 Pam, at Blogmeister, attended the Protest Against the NYT and has posted some great photos she took.
8 Even if you're not a writer, you'll love the hilarious Random notes to the authors of the last seven POD* books I read: The heroine of your novel should probably have the same first name throughout the entire book. Probably. … I think you meant assuage, not ass gauge. [*POD in this case means self-published.]
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