Peter Michael Falk was an American actor, best known for his role as Lieutenant Columbo in the television series Columbo. He appeared in numerous films and television guest roles and was nominated for an Academy Award twice (for 1960’s Murder, Inc. and 1961’s Pocketful of Miracles), and won the Emmy Award on five occasions (four for Columbo) and the Golden Globe award once.
Peter Michael Falk (September 16, 1927 – June 23, 2011)
Posted in News
Quote
“Wise men talk because they have something to say;
fools, because they have to say something.”
– Plato
Posted in Humor
A monkey is sitting in a tree smoking a joint, when a lizard walks past, looks up, and says to the monkey “Hey, what’re you doing?”
The monkey replies, “Smokin’ a joint – come up and have some.”
So the lizard climbs up the tree, sits next to the monkey, and they smoke a few joints.
After a while the lizard says his mouth is ‘dry’ and he’s going to the river to get a drink.
The lizard climbs down the tree and staggers over to the river to get a drink of water, but he is so stoned, he leans over too far and falls into the river.
A crocodile sees this, swims over to the lizard and helps him to the side.
Then he asks the lizard, “What’s the matter with you?”
The lizard explains to the crocodile that he was sitting up in a tree with a monkey smoking pot, got too stoned and then fell into the river while taking a drink.
The crocodile says he has to check this out, and wanders off into the jungle. He finds the tree where the monkey is sitting finishing up a joint.
The crocodile yells up to the monkey and says “Hey!”
The monkey looks down and says, “Wowwwwwwwwwwwww…….. Dude! How much water did you drink?!”
Posted in Humor
The space shuttle Atlantis is preparing for the final mission of the U.S. shuttle program next month. Atlantis’s crew is excited and reflective before the space craft’s last flight.
The crew, led by mission commander Christopher Ferguson, met journalists at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Ferguson, a retired U.S. Navy Captain said he and his crewmates feel a special obligation to do well.
“I think, and we have not talked about this, each of us feel extra burdened to make sure we put on the best possible face forward for the last go around of this, and the crew is very prepared,” said Ferguson. “We are going to go out and do a very fantastic job.”
Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley and mission specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim will deliver spare parts and supplies to the International Space Station during their flight. Atlantis will also test whether it is possible to robotically refuel orbiting satellites during its 12-day mission.
The shuttle will return with a failed ammonia pump module to help NASA better understand the failure mechanism and improve pump designs for future systems.
Atlantis is scheduled to liftoff July 8 and Ferguson says he expects the final landing to be a poignant moment for everyone involved with the shuttle program.
“Like I said, when it is all over at the very end I think that is when the enormity of it is going to hit us,” added Ferguson. “You know that last wheel stop call is going to be a little tough.”
The mission is the last of the U.S. Space Shuttle program. During its 30-year-history the shuttle fleet – Columbia, Atlantis, Challenger, Discovery, and Endeavour – has logged more than 825 million kilometers of space travel. The first shuttle, Enterprise, never flew in space.
Two of the shuttles – Challenger and Columbia – and their crews were lost. Challenger exploded during launch in January 1986. Columbia disintegrated just minutes before landing in February 2003.
NASA expects to start testing the shuttle’s replacement, the Orion spacecraft, with astronauts on board sometime in 2013.
Posted in News
One day a florist went to a barber for a haircut.
After the cut, he asked about his bill, and the barber replied, ‘I cannot accept money from you. I’m doing community service this week..’ The florist was pleased and left the shop.
When the barber went to open his shop the next morning, there was a ‘thank you’ card and a dozen roses waiting for him at his door.
Later, a cop comes in for a haircut, and when he tries to pay his bill, the barber again replied, ‘I cannot accept money from you. I’m doing community service this week.’ The cop was happy and left the shop.
The next morning when the barber went to open up, there was a ‘thank you’ card and a dozen donuts waiting for him at his door.
Then a Congressman came in for a haircut, and when he went to pay his bill, the barber again replied, ‘I can not accept money from you. I’m doing community service this week.’ The congressman was very happy and left the shop.
The next morning, when the barber went to open up, there were a dozen congressmen lined up waiting for a free haircut.
And that, my friends, illustrates the fundamental difference between the citizens of our country and the politicians who run it.
Posted in Humor
Kristoffer “Kris” Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is an influential American country music songwriter, singer and actor. He is best known for hits such as “Me and Bobby McGee”, “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down”, and “Help Me Make It Through the Night”.
Posted in Because I Can, On This Day
Clarence playing with Bruce Springsteen
Clarence Anicholas Clemons, Jr. (January 11, 1942 – June 18, 2011), also known as The Big Man, was an American musician and actor. From 1972 until his death, he was a prominent member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, playing the tenor saxophone. He released several solo albums and in 1985 had a hit single with “You’re a Friend of Mine”, a duet with Jackson Browne. As a guest musician he also featured on Aretha Franklin’s classic “Freeway of Love” and on Twisted Sister’s “Be Chrool to Your Scuel” as well as performing in concert with The Grateful Dead and Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band. As an actor Clemons featured in several films, including New York, New York and Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. He also made cameo appearances in several TV series, including Diff’rent Strokes, Nash Bridges, The Simpsons and The Wire. Together with his television writer friend Don Reo he published his autobiography, Big Man: Real Life & Tall Tales, in 2009. Clemons suffered a stroke on June 12, 2011 and died of complications from the stroke on June 18 at 69 years of age.
In 1975, we learned that it was no longer “safe to go back into the water.”
Posted in Because I Can, On This Day, The Big Screen
The first motion picture theater was called a nickelodeon because admission was a nickel.
It opened in McKeesport, PA on June 19,1905.
Posted in Because I Can, On This Day, The Big Screen
On Father’s Day, a little boy decides to make his dad breakfast in bed. He makes scrambled eggs, toast and coffee. He brings it into his dad, hands him the cup of coffee and says, ”Try it dad.”
The dad takes a sip and nearly passes out because it is so strong.
The little boy asks, ”How do you like it Dad?”
The dad doesn’t want to hurt the little boy’s feelings so he says, ”This is….something else, I’ve never tasted coffee quite like this before, Son.”
The little boy smiles from ear to ear. And says, ”Drink some more Pops.”
As the dad is drinking, he notices two army men in the bottom of the cup, and says, ”Hey! Why did you put army men in here?”
The little boy again smiles and sings, ”The Best Part Of Waking Up, Is SOLDIERS In Your Cup.”
Posted in Because I Can
Cycling while sexy could be hazardous to city motorists – just ask Jasmijn Rijcken.
The leggy Dutch tourist said she was pulled over by an NYPD cop for flashing too much skin while on two wheels.
“He said it’s very disturbing, and it’s distracting the cars and it’s dangerous,” Rijcken told the Daily News. “I thought he was joking around but he got angry and asked me for ID.”
Rijcken, 31, was not given a ticket during the May 3 incident, and did not get the officer’s name, but was left feeling baffled.
“I didn’t even think for one second that my outfit could be harmful or disturbing,” she said.
As general manager of a Dutch bicycle company, Rijcken was in New York to attend the New Amsterdam Bike Show and hopped on her wheels that sunny day to experience biking in New York City first hand.
She says she got more than she bargained for. “I was on my way back to the hotel when it happened and I changed into pants,” she said. “I didn’t want to get into trouble again.”
NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said: “Whether this story bears even a modest semblance of what actually occurred is impossible to establish without being provided the purported officer’s name and getting his side of the story.”
Posted in News
On this day in 1884, the first roller coaster in America opens at Coney Island, in Brooklyn, New York. Known as a switchback railway, it was the brainchild of LaMarcus Thompson, traveled approximately six miles per hour and cost a nickel to ride. The new entertainment was an instant success and by the turn of the century there were hundreds of roller coasters around the country.
Coney Island, a name believed to have come from the Dutch Konijn Eilandt, or Rabbit Island, is a tract of land along the Atlantic Ocean discovered by explorer Henry Hudson in 1609. The first hotel opened at Coney Island in 1829 and by the post-Civil War years, the area was an established resort with theaters, restaurants and a race track. Between 1897 and 1904, three amusement parks sprang up at Coney Island–Dreamland, Luna Park and Steeplechase. By the 1920s, Coney Island was reachable by subway and summer crowds of a million people a day flocked there for rides, games, sideshows, the beach and the two-and-a-half-mile boardwalk, completed in 1923.
The hot dog is said to have been invented at Coney Island in 1867 by Charles Feltman. In 1916, a nickel hot dog stand called Nathan’s was opened by a former Feltman employee and went on to become a Coney Island institution and international franchise. Today, Nathan’s is famous not only for its hot dogs but its hot dog-eating contest, held each Fourth of July in Coney Island. In 2006, Takeru Kobayashi set a new record when he ate 53.75 hot dogs with buns in 12 minutes.
Roller coasters and amusement parks experienced a decline during the Great Depression and World War II, when Americans had less cash to spend on entertainment. Finally, in 1955, the opening of Disneyland in Anaheim, California, signaled the advent of the modern theme park and a rebirth of the roller coaster. Disneyland’s success sparked a wave of new parks and coasters. By the 1970s, parks were competing to create the most thrilling rides. In 2005, Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, introduced the Kingda Ka roller coaster, the world’s tallest (at 456 feet) and fastest (at 128 mph).
By the mid-1960s, the major amusement parks at Coney Island had shut down and the area acquired a seedy image. Nevertheless, Coney Island remains a tourist attraction and home to the Cyclone, a wooden coaster that made its debut there in 1927. Capable of speeds of 60 mph and with an 85-foot drop, the Cyclone is one of the country’s oldest coasters in operation today. Though a real-estate developer recently announced the building of a new .5 billion year-round resort at Coney Island that will include a 4,000-foot-long roller coaster, an indoor water park and a multi-level carousel, the Cyclone’s owners have said they plan to keep the historic coaster open for business.
Posted in Because I Can, On This Day
During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress adopts a resolution stating that “the flag of the United States be thirteen alternate stripes red and white” and that “the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.” The national flag, which became known as the “Stars and Stripes,” was based on the “Grand Union” flag, a banner carried by the Continental Army in 1776 that also consisted of 13 red and white stripes. According to legend, Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross designed the new canton for the Stars and Stripes, which consisted of a circle of 13 stars and a blue background, at the request of General George Washington. Historians have been unable to conclusively prove or disprove this legend.
With the entrance of new states into the United States after independence, new stripes and stars were added to represent new additions to the Union. In 1818, however, Congress enacted a law stipulating that the 13 original stripes be restored and that only stars be added to represent new states.
On June 14, 1877, the first Flag Day observance was held on the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the Stars and Stripes. As instructed by Congress, the U.S. flag was flown from all public buildings across the country. In the years after the first Flag Day, several states continued to observe the anniversary, and in 1949 Congress officially designated June 14 as Flag Day, a national day of observance.
Posted in Because I Can, On This Day, Patriotic
Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was an acclaimed American folk music singer, author and actor.
Possibly his most remembered role today is as narrator Sam the Snowman in the Rankin-Bass animated television special, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964).
Ives’s “A Holly Jolly Christmas” is a very popular tune during the Christmas season, as it’s frequently played on the radio and was featured in the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer special.
Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (14 June 1909 – 14 April 1995)
Posted in Because I Can, Music, The Little Screen (Television)
I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.
Wives are having sex with their husbands because they can no longer afford batteries.
CEO’s are now playing miniature golf.
Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen.
I saw a Mormon with only one wife.
I bought a toaster oven and my free gift was a bank.
Angelina Jolie adopted a child from America.
Motel Six won’t leave the light on anymore.
A picture is now only worth 200 words.
They renamed Wall Street “Wal-Mart Street.”
When Bill and Hillary travel together, they now have to share a room.
The Treasure Island casino in Las Vegas is now managed by Somali pirates.
Posted in Humor
