Monday, March 30, 2009

Where is Jethro Bodine (Max Baer Jr.) Today?

Any child of the 1960’s remembers the hit TV show “The Beverly Hillbillies”, a precursor to the Bel Arabs, whereby a good ole boy (Jed Clampett) becomes a millionaire.

This was the heyday of the “Hillbilly” Genre started by Barney Google and Snuffy Smith and popularized by Lil Abner. One of the start of the Beverly Hillbillies was a Lil Abner lookalike called Jethro Bodine, who just happened to be the son of the world’s most famous Jewish Heavyweight fighter of all time, Max Baer.

According to this article, Max Baer Jr. has been speculating in the Beverly Hillbillies market, starting a Beverly Hillbillies theme casino in Carson City Nevada!

His Dad, Max Baer Sr., was the Jewish pugilist from the hit movie Cinderella Man, starring Russell Crowe, the phone-throwing actor. However, it was Max Baer Jr. who became the real household name, starring as Jethro Bodine in the Beverly Hillbillies.



Time has been kind to Jethro, as seen here in a 2007 photo, as he turns 70 years old:


Jethro Bodine, circa 1963 and 2007

His TV cousin, Ellie Mae Clampett has not been as fortunate:

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Derogatory airline lingo - Shamu’s aboard!

I was on a flight last week, and I overheard the flight attendant say to someone over her radio:

“We have two Shamu’s on this flight”!

She did not see me, and I’m sure that this was not meant to be heard in public, but it got me to thinking!

What’s a Shamu?

It took me a minute, but I figured out that they were referring to grossly obese fatties, fake disabled people who eat themselves into a wheelchair and then demand special treatment. It's like the kid who kills his parents and asks for lieniency because he is an orphan!


Shamu's are what the airlines call obese passengers!

I swear, one of the Shamu’s was so huge that he could not fit down the aisle and had to take the first-class bulkhead row. These are the pricks who demand special treatment and double-seats, claiming to be disabled, all because they eat 5,000 calories a day . . .

I have no sympathy for Shamu’s, and I applaud the airlines for assigning them this derogatory name. BTW, it was this airline, and they like Shamu’s, since they charge them for double seats:


The Shamu plane for flying fatties

Overeating IS NOT a disability, its willful misconduct!


This lady is not disabled, she eats too much . . .

How celebrities fly on commercial airlines

In these tough economic times, celebrities are abandoning their private jets are moving to lower-cost alternatives such as Netjets, a great semi-private jet company with reasonable prices. No TSA Nazi’s, and always point-to-point:


Netjets - How celebrities fly comercial

We know a few celebs and more and more they are dumping their private jets, choosing to fly commercial instead. It’s a green thing . . . .

Flying with the famous – celebrity boarding status

When we fly with our guide ponies for the blind, the blind person gets the “celebrity treatment”, a special deal where the airline “hides” you in an enclosed area near the gate with a private attendant.

Only after the flight has fully boarded do the celebrities get on, just before the cabin doors are closed.

I’ve often wondered how the airline chooses those for “celebrity” boarding status. It must be super-embarrassing for ex-celebrities to ask for special treatment only to be told that nobody recognizes them anymore.

Celebrities checking out my wife!

I was on a flight awhile back when a pair of NBA basketball players sat down in the same aisle as me and Janet. One guy was at least seven feet tall, he reminded me of my distant cousin Tommy Burleson, a former basketball star:


Tommy Burleson at the Olympics

Anyway, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that one of the NBA stars was checking-out my wife!

Sure, Janet is stunning, but why would a zillionaire kid be checking-out a lady twice his age? Janet noticed him too, and she enlightened me.

Evidently, sports superstars are very conscious of “luxury brands” and he was checking out Janet’s bling!

She was right! One of these guys has a diamond stud earring that was so large that it covered his whole earlobe, and at least a full pound of gold “bling” . . . He kinda looked like Ali G.:



Anyway, Janet said that he was “checking out our brands” . . .

Noel was traveling in a Coach bag, and Janet has her LV wallet, Hermes sweater, Brooks Brother’s shirt and Prada bag, not to mention her super-expensive “Air” sneakers . . .

Gee, I guess that we are still fashion trend setters . . . .

Giant sporting goods!

I came across this web page offering giant sports items, giant golf clubs, giant tennis racquets and giant baseball bats!

I really like this giant gold club, a sure conversation starter, and only about $1k with stand:

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Revolting Ephebophiles!

I was watching some crime show on TV and heard some new words, the “hebephile” and the “ephebophile”. A Hebephile is not someone who finds Jewish people sexy, it describes perverts who find teenage girls sexually attractive!

I’m really glad what some underemployed shrink found the time to bless us with these new “philes”, fancy words to describe these revolting sexual perversions.


Ephebophiles are sexual deviants who find teenaged girls attractive. For Shame!

It seems like TV is always trying to be more shocking. First we had pedophiles, then necrophilia, ephebophilia, paraphilia and now hebephilia . . . What’s next?

Evidently, hebephilia and ephebophilia are common disorders among young men, hence the old adage “15 will get you 20”:


Yes indeed, 15 will get you 20 . . .

How do we stop the ephebophiliac epidemic?

It’s estimated that over 95% of adolescent males suffer from ephebophilia or hebephilia, a national emergency of epic proportions!

More research needs to be conducted into this problem and aggressive treatment plans need to be devised to stop this most horrendous form of sexual deviance. . . .

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Book self-publishing enables copyright theft and plagiarism!

I recently purchased a computer book on Amazon. When the book arrived, the content looked very familiar, and I know why, I wrote a portion of this book!



Lulu.com copyrighted my work without my knowledge or consent!

I worked for hundreds of hours writing my book, and it really frosts me to see my own words attributed to some thief named Flavia D’Souza, and copyrighted by a scumbag self-publishing outfit called Lulu.

Lulu.com did not even take a minute to see that this author copied portions of the book from numerous other authors. You cannot even reach Lulu by phone (919-459-5858), it's just an answering machine. That's always fishy. . . .

Lulu is not a small operation, and it looks like I’ll have to spend thousands of dollars on their crap, not to mention attorney fees, all to protect my own Intellectual property rights from an irresponsible publisher.


It should be a requirement for a publisher to take a few minutes to see if the work is stolen. There are many sites that quickly identify stolen book content, it’s not hard, and it’s due diligence for every publishing company:

Detecting plagiarized content on the web

It appears that lulu.com even allows anonymous people to publish books, amazing!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

England re-writes history

One of the first signs that a country is drifting towards communism and totalitarianism is when they start to re-write the history books.

England schools remove Holocaust from curriculum

Amazing. The Holocaust was fully documented by all of the major news services, yet teachers are afraid of upsetting Muslim extremists . . . .

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

The origin of the word "faker"

The origin of the word faker

One of my pet peeves are “fakers”, posers who pretend to possess expertise and qualifications which they did not earn. The interweb is full of foreign, self-appointed experts and posers. I really hate fake engineers and fakers who give themselves fancy titles:


Posers love fake job titles

In college, I remember learning that a “faker” was a derivative of the word “fakir”, an Indian swami who dazzled people with feats of magic and illusion. Here are some “fake” accolades that I’ve seen used by fakers:



This thread has an interesting discussion of the origin of the word “faker”, with evidence that a faker is indeed derived from the Indian word “fakir”:


The "fakir" - Origion of the word faker

“I have seen a turn-of-the-century postcard with the caption "Fakir's Row" at the annual Brockton (Mass.) Fair.

I'm sure this was not a row of Hindu holy men but rather more like what Tatyana says: magicians performing their various smoke and mirror acts."

Amazing CGI art examples

Check this out, AMAZING CGI artistry. What an incredible new artists medium:



Thanks: TYWKIWDBI

Obvious questions with counterintuitive answers

Try this quiz. The answers are not as obvious as you might think:

1) How long did the Hundred Years' War last?

2) Which country makes Panama hats?

3) From which animal do we get cat gut?

4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?

5) What is a camel's hair brush made of?

6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal?

7) What was King George VI's first name?

8) What color is a purple finch?

9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from?

10) What is the color of the black box in a commercial airplane?






Remember, you need 4 correct answers to pass.

Check your answers below ...



ANSWERS TO THE QUIZ

1) How long did the Hundred Years War last? 116 years

2) Which country makes Panama hats? Ecuador

3) From which animal do we get cat gut? Sheep and Horses

4) In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution? November

5) What is a camel's hair brush made of? Squirrel fur

6) The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after what animal? Dogs

7) What was King George VI's first name? Albert

8) What color is a purple finch ? Crimson

9) Where are Chinese gooseberries from? New Zealand

10) What is the color of the black box in a commercial airplane? Orange (of course)

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Building a custom conservatory

Janet and I love conservatories, and it’s a great way to save cash on food too. I;’ve always wanted an indoor orange and lemon tree!

We were inspired by this place in Dublin, a magnificent art deco masterpiece:



And this one, in Belfast, a stunning conservatory:



But this one is my favorite, a poolside conservatory:



Most of the pieces can be purchased from Lowes, ready to assemble!

I want a conservatory with multiple climates, a rain forest for tropical’s, and other areas for violets, orchids, Bonsai, flowers, and a separate space for seasonal herbs and veggies like home-grown tomatoes and green chile!

I would also love to “keep” geraniums over the winter! After a few years they grow to be like small flowering trees!



I’ve seen some geraniums over six feet tall!

See my notes here on custom conservatory ideas.

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Rate that infomercial product!

Ever wonder how many people actually become real estate millionaires from those late night TV infomercials? How about those stupid “investment quality” collectors coins? Well, wonder no more, they are now being rated online!


Stupid crap for stupid people


This web site allows you to rate the products that you see on late night TV!

Take a few minutes to read the reviews, it's very entertaining!

I like this one, where the moron blames “sham-wow” for making his father die angry!

“He started to cry and yell, and as I took my niece out of the room, my father yelled out a scream of anger and pain I had never heard before.

He never got to say his last words to me or our family, all he saw was his own failure and shame and he died in tears, thinking only of an angry world, and not of our LOVE FOR HIM!"

Man, this product must really suck, to cause all of this human misery . . .

How to criticize doctors?

Some Licensed professionals (especially doctors and lawyers) tend to give-off a God-like arrogance, and I think that part of their problem is that they are never given an opportunity to be criticized.


Too many doctors have a God Complex

For physicians it’s even worse. If a doctor is found culpable for malpractice, a settlement will often be done with a non-disclosure clause, so the public will never know.

So, how does the public learn about the qualities of professionals? For physicans, we now have this site http://www.ratemds.com/, a site which allows people to publish anonymous comments about the quality of their health care. Because licensing standards suggest that all doctors and lawyers must be perfect, many doctors are up-in-arms about this site, especially the potential for abuse.


How does one "out" a quack doctor?

A doctor’s reputation is their greatest asset, and while it’s not fair to quash fair comment about medical treatment, it’s not fair to allow anonymous people to unfairly ruin a lifetime of hard work. WE must also consider the issue of business competition, especially among the “vanity” medical areas of plastic surgery and psychiatry, areas where a business competitor might use a tool like this http://www.ratemds.com/ to launch an illegal attack. (Tortuous interference with business relationships is a crime).

This article notes that the web site hides behind section 230, a DMCA clause which holds a web site harmless for what other people publish on the site.

I thought that it was interesting that this web site does not allow commentators to identify themselves!

Given that over 95% of complaints against medical doctors are unjustified, I could see where a site like this serves no legitimate purpose, other than as a vehicle for libel.

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Mexico planning to invade USA?

Evidently, it's illegal to fly any foreign flag above the star spangled banner.

This man is quite upset, and I can't say as I blame him:

Monday, March 02, 2009

The Tucson boneyard

Tucson is home to the "boneyard", a place where old military aircraft go to stay dry and rust-free, in case any parts are needed. It’s an amazing place, a graveyard for thousands of old military aircraft, preserved in the dry hot air:



In 1946, the boneyard housed thousands of B-17 bombers, which could be bought for as little as a few hundred dollars. Today, they are national treasures . . .
Lockheed Constellation


Janet & Noel with a Lockheed "Connie"

The Pima Air and Space Museum has a great collection of antique aircraft, including a B-17 and this Lockheed Constellation. The old "Connie" was the first plane I flew in, and I vividly remember puking my guts out as she bucked and weaved through the rough air.

I still love the classic lines of the Lockheed Constellation, and at night with all of the colorful lights on the wing and rudder, she is a spectacular sight.

The Pima museum also has a rare B-17 and several Air Force One aircraft.

Lots of old B-52's as well, including one that's outfitted to launch an X-15. It's hard to believe that the B-52 has been in service since 1952.



See my travel notes in Tucson here.