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January 31, 2011
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Links here are good only for the week of January 31, 2011. After that... is
anybody's guess.
No; and the way it looks now, Phil in Punxsutawney will be predicting a
long winter ahead of us. (Sarcastic reference to global warming nearly
irresistible here.)
Meanwhile, in this week's thrill-packed issue:
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Last week's Trivia Teaser was easy for most of you, but not all of
you: "Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee"; "I think I'm better than you"; and
the current federal debt is $14 trillion. Yikes!
Three more questions comin' up this week.
We're still tinkering a bit with the format and content of our
newsletter. Our goal is to make it more entertaining and easier to read
and navigate. Got any suggestions? Click reply and let us know.
Hershel tinkered with last week's essay after we initially posted it,
adding a revealing graph:
What's that? A little too small to read? OK; the full-size graph and
story is here.
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The easiest way to get there from here:
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This Week with the Chicowitz
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This week, Hershel explains why reducing the deficit, even by 50%, is
"unsustainable."
A debt of $14 trillion is only a number -- conceptually, it is not much
different than $22 trillion, is it? But it is not the debt that
exemplifies the damage. Rather, it is the amount of money that the federal
government must pay each year in interest on the debt that it owes. That
is how much goes out of our pockets that we could otherwise be spending
on the things that we all agree the government should be doing. That is
what is crippling us.
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You can read the entire essay here.
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Here are three questions from the BBHQ Trivia Vault:
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There
are no prizes here... it's all just for fun.
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The next BBHQ Weekly Trivia Contest cranks up Monday at 6 p.m.,
eastern.
Members can play all of our trivia games in
The BBHQ Trivia Library.
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Jim Croce was a wonderful performer, and an even better songwriter. Jim's
last album was "I Got a Name." In addition to the title song, the album
included another hit, "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song." It is
perhaps because of those two hits that a third song on the album was
overshadowed and mostly ignored.
What a shame. "Lover's Cross" is a beautiful song. We found a video of
Jim performing the song. It may make you smile, or it may make you cry.
But it is a great memory of a terrific artist.
Enjoy!
You can click the picture to play a clip from the song.
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Our "Lyrics You Can Share" selection for this week comes from
Jim Croce's "Lover's Cross":
Guess that it was bound to happen
Was just a matter of time
But now I've come to my decision
And it's a-one of the painful kind
'Cause now it seems that you wanted a martyr
Just a regular guy wouldn't do
But baby I can't hang upon no lover's cross for you
Yes, I really got to hand it to you
'Cause girl you really tried
But for ev'ry time that we spent laughin'
There were two times that I cried
You were tryin' to make me your martyr
And that's the one thing I just couldn't do
'Cause baby, I can't hang upon no lover's cross for you
'Cause tables are meant for turnin'
And people are bound to change
And bridges are meant for burnin'
When the people and mem'ries they join aren't the same
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You can listen to a clip from the song near the bottom of this week's essay. Click
here,
scroll down the page, and listen to our "Lyrics You Can Share."
BBHQ members can also play 200 oldies, 24/7 in our JukeBox. Think of
it as your own boomer karaoke machine.
And of course, you can buy this music and all kinds of stuff -
please! - using our link to
Amazon.com.
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The BBHQ Joke of the Week
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We call this one, "it's all in a name":
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The chairman of the board of our company called me into his office to
tell me the good news. I was being promoted to Vice-President of
Corporate Research and Planning.
Of course, I was excited, but that didn't stop me from asking for my new
title to be changed to Vice-President of Corporate Planning and
Research.
"Why?" asked the chairman.
"Because," I said, "our organization uses abbreviated job titles, and
I don't want be known as VP of CRAP."
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Brush Up Your Webster - featuring Madam Red Dot
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Last week I heard a commentator use the word "forsook" --
presumably the past tense of the word "forsake." It did not sound right.
Was it?
Yes, it was... and still is. The proper conjugation of "forsake" is forsake,
forsook, forsooking, forsaken.
... just seeing if you are paying attention. No; there is no
"forsooking"; I think that's a character on an MTV show, but it is not a
valid word. The correct conjugation of "forsake" is forsake, forsook,
forsaking, forsaken.
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The lesson here is that what sounds wrong sometimes is... and sometimes
is not.
Proper use of the English language: it ain't for sissies.
So... brush up your Webster!
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Uncle Jay is one of our favorite boomer... artists.
Last week Uncle Jay commented on a possible upcoming new product from
Apple:
Click the pic, above, to view a short clip of Uncle Jay's take on the news or
visit his web site to watch the complete video.
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Have a great week. We'll share the fun again next Monday.
- the Boomer Crew at BBHQ
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